Traffic on 86-km-long historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, has been suspended on Friday due to fresh snowfall and slippery road condition.
Meanwhile, about 20 persons, including a child, who were struck at Pir-ki-Gali due to snowfall and slippery road condition on the Mughal road, were rescued and taken to safer place on Thursday night.
The 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway has been closed to allow agencies to undertake repair and maintenance work on the only road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, a traffic police official told UNI today.
He said there were few inches of fresh snowfall on the road at several places, including Pir-ki-Gali , Dubjan and Zaznar, last evening forcing authorities to suspend traffic as a precautionary measure since there was slippery road condition. The weather has witnessed improvement this morning and traffic will be resumed only after getting green signal, he said.
Meanwhile, a massive rescue operation was launched when a report was received that about 20 persons were struck at Pir-ki-Gali due to snowfall and slippery road condition. All the stranded persons, including a child, were rescued and taken to safer place.
Spokesman said traffic on 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway will remain suspended today in view of maintenance of the road. The authorities have announced to allow National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) to undertake necessary repair and maintenance work of the highway on every Friday till November end. Even security force vehicles were not being allowed to ply on Friday, he said.