Ramban: Vehicular traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was disrupted for several hours due to rolling stones at Mehar, Ramban on Sunday.
Vehicular traffic on both sides of the highway remained disrupted between the two capital cities of J&K for several hours due to the triggering of debris and shooting stones at Mehar ahead of Ramban town due to which Kashmir-bound Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) remained stranded and stuck in long queues between Mehar-Nashri sector of the highway till 7 pm.
Due to frequent landslides and shooting stones between Mehar Cafeteria Morh, the road stretch has become a constant threat to the smooth flow of vehicular traffic on the highway.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Deputy Superintendent of Traffic Police National Highway Ramban, Parul Bharadwaj said that shooting stones disrupted the movement of traffic at Mehar for a few hours in the afternoon.
He said that the scheduled convoys carrying Amarnath yatris for Kashmir crossed this portion of the highway safely in the morning.
“Contractor Company of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) pressed its men and machinery for clearing debris and stones from the road following which hundreds of vehicles including HMVs carrying essential commodities, diesel, petrol, and LPG tankers were allowed to cross the Mehar Cafeteria Morh portion of the road in the evening,” a Traffic Police official deployed for regulating traffic at the spot said.
He said hundreds of vehicles crossed the Mehar, Ramban sector of the highway heading towards Kashmir.
However, commuters and drivers complained that they remained stuck in a massive traffic jam at Nashri, Peera, Chanderkote, and Karool till late Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, the Traffic Police Department issued an advisory for Monday stating that subject to fair weather and better road conditions, Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) would be allowed to ply on both sides of the highway while HMVs would be allowed to move towards Jammu from Qazigund, Kashmir.
Traffic Control Units of Srinagar, Jammu, and Udhampur have been asked to liaise with Traffic Control Unit Ramban before releasing the traffic.
The cut-off timing for the Srinagar-bound LMVs and private cars have been fixed as 7:30 am to 11:30 am from Nagrota Jammu and 8:30 am to 12:30 pm from Jakhani, Udhampur.
The cut-off timings for the Jammu-bound LMVs have been fixed as 11:30 am to 2 pm from Qazigund.
The operators of private cars and other passenger LMVs have been asked to use the Jawahar Tunnel route up to 2 pm.