Ramban: Following incessant rains, the movement of vehicular traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was disrupted for several hours due to multiple landslides between Ramban and Banihal on Saturday.
The traffic authorities said that the highway was closed on Friday midnight for every type of traffic after incessant rains that lashed the area and triggered land and mudslides at various places on the highway left no option for the authorities except to close the highway for vehicular traffic between Ramban and Banihal to save lives and property on the highway.
They said that the road restoration work was started after an improvement was observed in the weather on Saturday morning with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) pressing into service sophisticated machinery for clearing the landslides on the Mehar-Cafeteria, Seri, Shalgari and other places and traffic resumed in the afternoon.
The traffic authorities said that in the first instance, stranded vehicles from Nashri-Ramban were allowed to move toward Kashmir.
The authorities allowed hundreds of vehicles to cross the Chenani-Nashri and Banihal-Qazigund tunnels.
Deputy Commissioner Ramban, Mussarat Islam said that after clearing the debris on the NH-44, stranded vehicles were being allowed to move toward their destinations.
SSP Traffic National Highway Ramban, Mohita Sharma said that the highway was reopened after remaining blocked at several places in Ramban district.