A landslide in Battery Chasma area and a massive traffic jam near Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway Friday hindered smooth flow of vehicular movement on the 300-km-long thoroughfare, causing hardships to hundreds of commuters.
An official source told Greater Kashmir that a landslide at Battary Chasma badly affected the follow of traffic from Ramban to Banihal and Banihal to Ramban for major part of the day, troubling commuters, especially those from the Ramban district.
A traffic jam at Chenani also proved troublesome for hundreds of commuters as passenger vehicles on way to Kashmir, Doda, Kishtwar and Bhadrawah remained stuck there for hours together, a group of witnesses said.
Though authorities make tall claims of regulating traffic on the highway under an “action plan”, the ground situation belies the claims.
COLD CONDITIONS PERSIST IN KASHMIR
Meanwhile, cold conditions persisted in Kashmir and maximum and minimum temperatures remained several degrees below normal temperatures at this time of the year.
Weather is likely to stay dry in the next 24 hours, according to meteorological department officials.
Srinagar residents woke up to a sunny Friday morning even though the air was chilly. But as the day progressed, weather turned cloudy, causing a dip in the day temperature.
Ahead of the fresh spell of rain and snow forecast next week, minimum temperatures across Jammu and Kashmir improved on Friday.
Srinagar and Jammu recorded 1.0 and 12.5 degrees Celsius as the night’s lowest temperatures respectively, improving from Thursday’s minus 0.4 and 11.5, the officials said.
MeT officials said the lowest temperature recorded in Kargil Friday was minus 7.4, followed by Leh at minus 5.1, better than Thursday’s minus 8.6 and minus 6.5 degrees Celsius respectively.
Pahalgam and Gulmarg in Kashmir recorded minus 1.0 and minus 3.5, respectively.
From November 12 to November 14 rains and snow have been predicted in the state.
SONAMARG-KARGIL TRAFFIC LIKELY TODAY
Meanwhile, after remaining closed for eight consecutive days, the Srinagar-Kargil highway reopened for one-way traffic on Friday, officials said.
The highway was closed last week due to heavy snowfall, leaving hundreds of passenger vehicles and trucks stranded on both sides.
Superintendent of police traffic (rural) Muzafar Ahmed Shah told Greater Kashmir the snow clearance work has been completed and the stranded vehicles from Kargil side were allowed to move towards Srinagar on Friday.
He said traffic will be allowed from Sonamarg side Saturday subject to good weather and road condition and once all stranded vehicles from Kargil side cross to this side.
SINGLE-LANE TRAFFIC ON MUGHAL ROAD
Restricted single-lane movement of vehicles on Mughal Road connecting Kashmir with Poonch saw a large number of vehicles move from both sides on Friday.
Though the road was cleared off snow, it is not wide enough at some places. The authorities therefore restricted the vehicular traffic to single lane.
A police official said from morning to 1pm, traffic was allowed from Shopian towards Rajouri and from the other side after 1pm.
People have been urged to cooperate with the authorities and avoid travelling during late hours.
(With additional reporting by Irfan Raina from Ganderbal and Sumit Bhargav from Rajouri)