Ramban: Following heavy rains, vehicular traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was disrupted for several hours due to rolling stones at Mehar and mudslides at Cafeteria Morh, Ramban on Sunday.
Traffic authorities said shooting stones at Mehar and a mudslide ahead of Cafeteria Morh, Ramban triggered by rains halted the movement of vehicular traffic for more than five hours on the highway.
They said that the highway got blocked at 9 am and was restored in the afternoon.
Due to the road blockade between Mehar and Ramban, hundreds of light, medium, and heavy vehicles remained stranded on both sides of the highway.
After the improvement in the weather, men and machinery were summoned by the contractor company of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) from other work sites and locations for clearing the highway of the debris and stones.
Traffic officials said that the concerned agency had cleared stones and mudslides from the road and prepared a single-lane road in the afternoon.
They said that after remaining open for a brief period, rolling stones at Mehar again halted the movement of traffic till 2 pm.
After its clearance, scheduled traffic resumed on both sides of the highway.
Traffic Police officials deployed for regulating traffic at the spot said that hundreds of light and medium passenger vehicles, private cars, and Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) were allowed to cross the Mehar Cafeteria Morh portion of the road in the afternoon.
They said that a scheduled convoy of HMVs released from Qazigund, Kashmir was heading towards Jammu without any interruption on the highway.
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 whereas HMVs (trucks) would be allowed to move towards Srinagar from Jammu, Jakhani Udhampur on the highway.
Traffic Control Units (TCUs) of Srinagar, Jammu, and Udhampur have been asked to liaise with the TCU Ramban before releasing the traffic.
The cut-off timing for the Srinagar-bound LMVs and private cars has been fixed as 7 am to 12 pm from Nagrota Jammu and 8 am to 1 pm from Jakhani, Udhampur.
The cut-off timing for the Jammu-bound LMVs has been fixed as 7 am to 12 pm from Qazigund, Kashmir.