No fresh vehicular traffic allowed on Jammu-Srinagar NH

Amid forecast for fresh snowfall and rain, no fresh vehicular traffic was allowed on the arterial 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Wednesday, traffic department officials said.

However, thousands of vehicles including trucks which got stranded on the highway following a landslide on Tuesday at Peera between Nashri and Ramban were allowed to move towards their destinations after the road was made navigable, the officials said.

"No vehicle either from Srinagar or Jammu was allowed on the highway this morning as authorities had decided to clear the stranded vehicles first," a traffic department official said.

He said vehicular traffic on the highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, resumed late on Tuesday after the debris from the landslide was removed in a six-hour long road clearance operation by the agencies concerned.

"There was no disruption despite intermittent rains in Ramban-Banihal sector. The traffic is moving smoothly when last reports were received," the official said.

He said a decision to allow vehicular traffic, either from Srinagar or Jammu, would be taken later on Wednesday night after fresh assessment of the situation.

The traffic on the highway plies alternatively from Jammu and Srinagar to facilitate smooth movement of commuters in view of the ongoing work on the four-laning highway project.

The meteorological department has predicted moderate rain and snow in Jammu and Kashmir and at scattered places of Ladakh region from March 5 to 7.

"Light rain and snow will commence at a few places of Kashmir division on March 5 morning and intensify thereafter in intensity and distribution with main activity on March 6 and 7," an official of the meteorological department said.

He warned of possible landslides between Ramban and Banihal leading to closure of the highway.