SRINAGAR: The Kashmir valley remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second day on Wednesday due to closure of the 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway following fresh snowfall and landslides.
Meanwhile, over 1500 trucks, carrying essentials, which left Jammu on Monday evening for Kashmir are stranded on the highway, the only all weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
Similarly, over 2500 vehicles, mostly Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) carrying fruits, are stranded on this side of the Jawahar tunnel for the past over a week.
There was fresh snowfall during the night on both sides of tunnel besides Shaitan Nallah and Banihal and landslides between Ramban and Ramsu, a traffic police official said this morning.
The weather is dry but sky remained cloudy since this morning, he said adding the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has launched road clearance operation after snow and rain stopped.
He said once a green signal is received that snow and landslide clearance operation are over, only stranded vehicles will be allowed to move towards their respective destinations. We will allow Kashmir bound stranded vehicles at Banihal and other places to move, he said adding later Jammu bound stranded vehicles will also be allowed to move.
However, no fresh vehicle will be allowed from Jammu or Srinagar until all stranded vehicles are cleared, he said.
He said traffic was allowed from Jammu to Srinagar for two consecutive days on Sunday and Monday. He said over 5000 HMVs and oil and gas tankers besides vehicles carrying passengers have reached Kashmir from Jammu.
About 1500 trucks, carrying essentials for Kashmir valley left Jammu on Monday evening. “All these vehicles have been stopped at different places on the highway following fresh snowfall due to which road has become slippery,” he said.
About 2500 HMVs and other vehicles are stranded on this side of the tunnel. Truckers alleged that they are stranded on the highway for the past over a week.
Meanwhile, the 434-km-long highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) Ladakh with Kashmir and 98-km-long Mughal road, linking Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, and Anantnag-Kishtwar road also remained closed for the past 44 days on Wednesday due to snow and slippery conditions.