Traffic remains suspended on Kashmir highway for 2nd day

Srinagar, Apr 3: Traffic on the 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, remained suspended for the second consecutive day on Saturday.

Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed on Friday for weekly maintenance and repair work.

However, a traffic police official told TNN that the traffic on the highway could not be restored on Saturday due to a landslide at Samroli in Udhampur on Friday evening.

The official said that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has pressed into service sophisticated machines to put through the traffic on Kashmir highway. “Traffic will be restored after clearing the landslide,” he added.

Frequent closure of Srinagar-Jammu national highway since its expansion has been a major cause of concern for the people living in Kashmir valley, where suspension of traffic results in increase in the rates of essential commodities by many folds.

Meanwhile, traffic remained suspended on 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway, the only road linking Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir valley, since January 1, 2021 due to the accumulation of snow and avalanches. The Beacon had cleared snow on the highway in the last week of February.

But, fresh snowfall and avalanches forced authorities to close the highway again. A Beacon driver was killed on Wednesday in a snow avalanche near Zojilla during snow clearance operation on Leh highway. Snow clearance operation continued to put through the highway.

The Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, also remained shut due to snow since December last year. The road, seen as an alternative to Srinagar-Jammu national highway, is likely to reopen later this month.

Snow clearance operation on Anantnag-Kishtwar road was also going on war footing to resume traffic, suspended since December last year.