Banihal: A portion of a protection wall along the Jammu–Srinagar national highway collapsed in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, disrupting vehicular movement, officials said on Friday.
Around 40 metres of the wall along with the adjoining Sawni panchayat link road, caved in on Thursday night.
Project Director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Shubham Yadav, said a 40-metre section of the back wall had been damaged.
“One tube of the four-lane highway has been closed. The cause of the erosion is yet to be ascertained,” he said.
He said restoration work has been launched to make the affected tube trafficable at the earliest. Traffic is currently being regulated through the single operational tube, leading to slow movement on the stretch.
The collapse also damaged a part of the Sawni panchayat link road, affecting connectivity, they said.
Officials from NHAI, the district administration and the traffic department are on the spot monitoring the situation to prevent further damage and ensure smooth flow of traffic on the strategic highway linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.
