HT Correspondents

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

Jammu/Srinagar : The Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for the third day on Saturday as heavy rains hampered the operation to clear the debris brought on the arterial road by a massive landslide in Ramban district, traffic department officials said.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP Traffic) JS Johar said, “It is raining heavily in Ramban district and as a result restoration operations are being affected but men and machinery are working and the debris will be cleared soon.”

A massive landslide in Digdol had blocked the highway on Thursday at around 9pm, forcing closure of the road. It was the fourth landslide since November 7 in the area.

Road clearance operation was launched immediately but intermittent rains disrupted the work, especially since Friday night, the officials said, adding that shooting stones from the hillocks overlooking the highway were also reported from several places.

A local from Ramban said rains also triggered shooting stones in Marog and Panthial areas on Saturday morning.

The SSP said around 2,500 vehicles, including trucks carrying essential commodities to Kashmir, are stranded at various place on the highway. Approximately 1,500 trucks are stranded between Nashri and Banihal in Ramban district.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been trying to clear the debris but heavy rainfall since Thursday has been hampering the restoration work.

Around 6,000 trucks, most of them carrying fruits, are also stranded on the highway from Kashmir side.

Superintendent of police (SP traffic) Muzaffar Shah said,“It is raining heavily in Panthihal and shooting stones are frequent in the area. We are putting efforts to clear the stranded vehicles as there is a huge backlog of fruit trucks.”

The Mughal road, which connects the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region with Shopian district in south Kashmir, continued to remain closed for the 11th consecutive day on Saturday. The road, which usually remains closed during the winter months, was closed on November 6 after high altitude areas including Pir Ki Gali experienced first major snowfall of the season.

Pir Ki Gali and adjoining areas along the Mughal Road witnessed snowfall over the past couple of days, officials said, adding a decision to reopen the road will be taken once the weather improves.

Officials at Srinagar’s meteorological centre said light rains were recorded in Kokernag, Kupwara, Pahalgam, Qazigund, Banihal and Jammu. South Kashmir’s Kokernag recorded 2.4mm rainfall since Saturday morning and 4.2mm rain was witnessed in Qazigund. “The mercury went below zero to minus 1°C during the night in ski resort of Gulmarg, minus 2.1°C in Leh and minus 3.1°C degrees in Kargil,” a MeT official said.

The MeT department has predicted dry weather in most parts of Jammu and Kashmir from Sunday.