Srinagar-Jammu National Highway reopened after 3 days

Srinagar, April 9 Vehicular traffic on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was restored on Thursday after three days of blockage, officials said.

Traffic Department officials said the vehicular movement on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was restored after clearance of landslides that had left the highway blocked in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir for the past three days.

The nearly 300-km-long highway was blocked by multiple landslides early Monday. Though the highway was briefly reopened for a few hours on Tuesday morning, two major landslides forced a fresh closure.

Traffic police cleared over 900 vehicles after clearing landslides at Shalgarhi, Banihal, Digdol, Khooni Nallah, Karol Bridge, and Chanderkote areas of Ramban/

Despite massive investment on bridges, flyovers and tunnels, the highway still remains a fair-weather road. Although the travel time has been brought down to 5 hours between Srinagar and Jammu on this highway from the earlier 10 to 12 hours, the vulnerability of this highway to bad weather continues.

A downpour in the Ramsoo to Ramban town stretch of this highway triggers shooting stones/landslides, forcing closure of the road.

All essential supplies, including petrol, diesel, cooking gas, mutton, poultry products and vegetables, are brought into the landlocked Valley through this highway despite the fact that a rail link is fully operational between the Jammu division and the Valley.

Train service from Katra town of Jammu division and the Valley was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 26 last year.

Unless cargo trains carrying essentials of life into the Valley and fruit to national markets are operated regularly, the weather dependability of the Srinagar-Jammu highway will continue to adversely affect the economy of Kashmir.

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