Jammu-Srinagar highway still off-limits

The Jammu-Srinagar highway remained closed for the third consecutive day on Saturday due to fresh landslides in the Bannihal-Ramban sector, an official said.

Debris clearance operation of earlier landslides were still going on, when the fresh landslide hit the road this morning.

No traffic will be allowed on the highway till it is absolutely safe, the traffic department has said.

Over 100 stranded tankers carrying petroleum products for the Kashmir Valley crossed the Jawahar Tunnel late on Friday, Alok Kumar, inspector general of Police (IGP) traffic told reporters.

Nearly 3,000 vehicles, mostly trucks, have been parked at safer places in Qazigund-Bannihal stretch of the highway.

Closure of the highway has resulted in shortages of essential supplies in the landlocked valley. Unscrupulous traders are using it to sell commodities at exorbitant prices.

Mutton, which is normally sold at Rs 400 per kilogram, is being sold at Rs 450 to Rs 500 per kilogram in Srinagar and elsewhere in the Valley . Similar hike is seen in poultry products, vegetables etc.

--IANS

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