Ramban: The Srinagar- Jammu National Highway remained open for scheduled two-way traffic of light motor vehicles (LMVs) and one-way traffic of Heavy Motor Vehicles (trucks) for Jammu on Saturday.
Traffic authorities informed Jammu Srinagar National Highway remained blocked for 3 hours and 47 minutes due to shooting stones at Mahad from yesterday 5 pm to till Saturday 5 pm. Official sources said during the intervening night (Friday and Saturday) vehicular traffic was disrupted due to the triggering of rolling stones at Mehar due to which some Srinagar-bound
Heavy Motor Vehicles got stranded at Mehar. They said that the previous night a rolling boulder also hit a Srinagar-bound truck at Mehar but no causality or injury was reported in this accident, however, the vehicle suffered damages.
They said the truck was removed from the road and simultaneously the road was restored for traffic.
However later the intensity of rolling stones from the hillock at Mehar increased which forced the authorities to stop the vehicular movement.
They said Srinagar-bound Heavy Motor Vehicles were stopped as a precautionary measure.
Later after the intensity of rolling stones decreased, the concerned agency, NHAI, pressed their men and machinery into service for clearing the debris and stones from the road, and scheduled traffic resumed amid shooting stones Saturday morning.
However, traffic authorities said traffic movement remained very slow due to intermittent shooting stones at Mehar, Ramban, and due to flocks of nomads this morning. SSP, Mohita Sharma while updating about the status of the highway said that Heavy Motor Vehicles including fruit laded trucks from Kashmir moved towards Jammu in a regulated manner. Earlier in the morning, SSP said vehicles were moving smoothly but suddenly in the intervening night (Friday & Saturday) a lot of shooting stones activity was reported in Mehar due to which some trucks got stranded in Mehar.
Traffic officials monitoring regulations on the highway in Ramban informed hundreds of private passenger LMVs have crossed for their respective destinations during the day whereas Heavy Motor Vehicles are still heading towards Jammu in a regulated manner on the highway.
They said some HMVs which were stopped the previous night due to a road blockade at Mehar will be allowed to move towards Kashmir after the scheduled traffic was cleared.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir traffic police department issued an advisory for Sunday stating that subject to fair weather and good road conditions LMVs will be allowed to move on either side whereas Heavy Motor Vehicles shall be allowed to move towards Kashmir from Jakhani Udhampur after assessing road and traffic situation on Sunday. The cut-off timing for light medium vehicles from Kashmir to Jammu has been fixed from 9 am to 12 noon.
The cut-off timings for Srinagar-bound vehicles have been fixed from 9am to 12 am from Nagrota, Jammu, and from Udhampur from 10 am to 1 pm.
No vehicle shall be allowed to move before and after the cut-off timing while TCU Jammu and Srinagar shall liaise with TCU Ramban before allowing the traffic. Security forces are advised not to travel against the convoy because of traffic congestion and the narrow carriageway between Nashri and Banihal on the highway.