Despite improvement in weather, only one-way traffic continues on Kashmir highway

Srinagar, Mar 18: Despite major improvement in the weather conditions, only one-way traffic continued on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, due to very bad road conditions.

Meanwhile, snow clearance operations are being carried out on a war-footing to resort traffic on historic 86-km-long Mughal road and Srinagar-Leh National Highway, which remained closed since December last year due to accumulation of snow.

“Hundreds of vehicle, including empty truck and oil tankers, besides passengers, left different parts of Kashmir valley early on Monday morning for Jammu,” a traffic police official told UNI.

He said both Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) and Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) have been allowed to ply on the highway with some restrictions. “LMVs shall be allowed to pass Pantha Chowk in Srinagar between 0700 hrs and 1100 hrs and from Levdora in Qazigund between 0800 hrs and 1200 hrs,” he said.

Thereafter, HMVs will be allowed to ply on the highway, he added.

He said no vehicle, including security force convoy, will be allowed from Kashmir to Jammu.

However, commuters alleged immense hardships due to very bad road conditions and heavy traffic jam. “I left Srinagar at around 0600 hrs, but there was still very heavy traffic jam on the highway. The condition of the highway is very bad and travelling on the road is a nightmare. It doesn’t feel like traveling on a national highway… but rather like an interior village road which is full of potholes and dust,” Shakil Ahmad, a resident of Batamaloo, who was on way to Jammu, told UNI over the phone.

Frequent landslides and shooting stone have become a routine on the highway, forcing authorities to suspend traffic as a precautionary measure keeping in view the safety of passengers, official sources said.

They said the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for widening and maintenance of the road, are working almost round the clock to clear the landslides and shooting stones.


However, frequent suspension of traffic on the highway has badly hit the people of Kashmir valley, including fruit traders, who find it difficult to transport their apples to different parts of the country. People are facing acute shortage of essentials, including vegetables, meat and chicken as valley entirely dependent on imports from different northern states.

An official said that on the direction of the District Administration Shopian, snow clearance operation continued for the third successive day on Mughal Road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region.

“The work to clear snow from the road would take around 20 days depending on the amount of snowfall in higher reaches and landslides which usually hinder the operations,” he said.

Snow clearance operation was being carried out on war footing from both sides of the Zojila pass to put through Srinagar-Leh National Highway, which connects Ladakh region with the rest of the state.