Despite only one-way, frequent traffic jam on Kashmir highway

Srinagar, Feb 27: Though only one-way traffic was being allowed for the past two months on 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, frequent traffic jams were being witnessed almost daily. Meanwhile, the historic Mughal Road and border town of Gurais, surrounded by Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), remained cut off from the Valley due to accumulation of snow. The highway, connecting Ladakh region with Kashmir valley, also remained closed due to snow. “The highway, linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was through for one-way traffic only,” a traffic police official told UNI. Hundreds of empty trucks and oil tankers, besides passenger vehicles, left Srinagar for Jammu as only down convoy has been allowed. No vehicle from opposite direction will be allowed, he said. He said that only one-way traffic will continue on the highway till further orders. However, reports reaching here said that frequent traffic jam is witnessed on the highway. Due to parking of trucks and other vehicles from opposite direction, there was traffic jam for hours at several places, passengers travelling from Jammu to Srinagar yesterday alleged. Traffic on the Kashmir highway has been disrupted frequently due to snowfall and landslides besides slippery road conditions since first heavy snowfall on January 6. Meanwhile, the 85-km-long historic Mughal Road, linking Shopian in South Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch remained closed since last month due to heavy snowfall. The road is seen as alternative to the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, traffic on which is disrupted frequently due to landslides and shooting stones. There is about ten feet of snow on the road at several places, including Peer Ki Gali, Dubjan and Chattapani. The road is likely to reopen in April-May months, official sources said. Meanwhile, dozens of far-flung and remote villages, including those near the Line of Control (LoC) in the frontier district of Kupwara and Bandipora remained cut off from their respective district and tehsil headquarters because of snow. The Bandipora to border town of Gurez road remained closed due to accumulation of snow on the road.