Srinagar, Dec 11: The 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed for any traffic movement on Friday for maintenance of the road, connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir and historic 86-km-long Mughal road remained closed for the fourth day on Friday following accumulation of snow and slippery road conditions.
A traffic police official told UNI today that traffic on Srinagar-Leh national highway was suspended on Tuesday morning following fresh snowfall. There was fresh snowfall during the past 24 hours. Few inches of snow had accumulated at Meenmarg , Zero point and Drass, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia. However, there was one to two feet of fresh snowfall at Zojila, he said.
He said there was improvement in the weather and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has put into service sophisticated machines to clear the snow on the highway. However, traffic will be resumed only after receiving green signal, he said adding night traffic movement from 1800 hrs to 0900 hrs next morning will remain suspended on the highway between Gagangir and Sonamarg.
This year the government has decided to keep the highway open till December end provided. The highway remained closed during winter months due to accumulation of 10 to 15 feet of snow on the highway.
The historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, also remained closed for any traffic movement for the third due to accumulation of snow, traffic official said.
Traffic on the road was resumed recently after remaining closed for over a week due to snowfall. The road, also seen as alternative to Srinagar-Jammu highway, remains closed for six winter months due to snow and avalanches.
He said there will be no traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Friday to allow National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) maintenance and repair of the highway, he said adding it has been decided to allow the NHAI to repair road on Fridays.