Shooting stones disrupt traffic on Sgr-Jmu NH

Ramban: The only functioning single-lane road stretch and intermittent triggering of rolling stones on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch of Ramban disrupted vehicular traffic movement on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway between Nashri and Banihal in Ramban district on several occasions since Monday morning.

Due to the disruption of traffic on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch, traffic congestion was also witnessed between the Ramban-Ramsu and Mehar-Chanderkote stretches of the highway.

Official sources said that rolling stones were triggered on the highway between Mehar-Cafeteria Morh stretches of Ramban due to which vehicular traffic got disrupted on several occasions from early morning till late Monday evening.

Traffic officials monitoring the regulation of traffic on the highway in Ramban in the evening said despite the intermittent triggering of stones, hundreds of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) and Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) crossed Ramban for their destinations during the day.

They said stones were rolling occasionally on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch for the last few days.

Traffic officials said some LMVs were also diverted through Ramban's old alignment road to bypass the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch of the highway.

Traffic authorities said during the last 24 hours up to 5 pm on Monday, the highway remained blocked for 4 hours and 34 minutes.

They said that the highway remained blocked due to shooting stones at the Cafeteria near Ramban for 1 hour and 20 minutes and 3 hours and 14 minutes due to the closure of the Chenani-Nashri tunnel.

The traffic authorities said that the movement of traffic remained slow due breakdown of nine HMVs vehicles between Nashri and Banihal.

Meanwhile, vehicular traffic on the highway halted since 7 pm at Cafeteria-Mehar near Ramban due to which both sides of traffic were stranded on the highway in Ramban.

DSP Traffic National Highway Ramban, Ifthikar Ahmed told Greater Kashmir at 10 pm on Monday that shooting stones disrupted the traffic movement at Cafeteria, Mehar.

He said road clearance was going on.

Meanwhile, J&K Traffic Department issued a fresh advisory for Tuesday stating that subject to fair weather and road clearance, LMVs would be allowed to move on either side while HMVs would be allowed from Jakhani, Udhampur towards Kashmir after assessing the road and traffic situation on the highway on Tuesday morning.

Traffic Control Unit (TCU) Udhampur has been asked to liaise with TCU Ramban before releasing the HMVs on Tuesday morning.

Late Monday evening, the highway was blocked at Cafeteria-Meher and hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the highway in Ramban.