2 die while waiting for road to reopen
Srinagar, Jan 24: Traffic was on Sunday restored on the 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, after remaining closed since Friday.
However, only Kashmir-bound vehicles, which were stranded at various places on the highway, are being cleared.
“Traffic on the highway has been restored and only stranded vehicles are being allowed to move towards Kashmir valley,” a traffic police official said.
The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed on Saturday due to accumulation of snow at Qazigund, on both sides of Jawahar tunnel, Shaitan Nallah and Banihal, besides mudslides and shooting stones in Ramban district.
However, he said the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), responsible for the maintenance of the highway, pressed into service sophisticated machines and cleared the snow and mudslides.
He said only stranded vehicles will be allowed on Monday towards Srinagar, besides local traffic between Ramban and Banihal. “No vehicle will be allowed in the opposite direction,” he said, adding fresh traffic will be allowed only after clearing the stranded vehicles.
The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed for vehicular traffic on Friday for weekly maintenance and repair of the road. The Union Territory (UT) administration has decided to allow NHAI to undertake weekly necessary repair work every Friday after frequent disruption in traffic movement on the highway.
He said the weight bearing capacity of the installed bailey bridge is less than 40 metric ton. The main concrete bridge was damaged on January 10 after a retaining wall was damaged. Since there was no alternative available to resume traffic, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) constructed a bailey bridge and traffic was allowed on January 17. Since only one vehicle can pass the bailey bridge at a time, one-way traffic was allowed on the highway.
Meanwhile, the 86-km-long historic Mughal road, linking Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, and Anantnag-Sampthan-Kishtwar road also remained closed since last week of December, 2020 due to accumulation of several feet of snow.
The national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir, has been closed since January 1, 2021 for winter months due to accumulation of snow. The Government of India (GoI) has already sanctioned tunnel at Zojila pass to make it all weather road.
Air traffic resumes at Srinagar Airport
Meanwhile air traffic resumed at the Srinagar International Airport (SIA) on Sunday after remaining suspended on Saturday due to fresh snowfall and poor visibility.
However, a number of morning flights were delayed due to snow clearance operation on the runway.
Officials said all incoming and outgoing flights at SIA were cancelled due to poor visibility and snowfall yesterday.
They said snow clearance operation was launched on the runway was launched this morning.
Officials said after the snow clearance operation was over and visibility was good flights were allowed to land at the airport.
This was the second time air traffic was affected at Srinagar airport this month.
All incoming and outgoing flights were cancelled for four days due to snow and poor visibility from January 3.
The issue of cancellation of air traffic and steep increase in airfare, particularly when Srinagar-Jammu highway remains closed, was taken by stakeholders with the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on January 21. The PSC was on a three-day visit to Kashmir valley.
2 die while waiting for highway to reopen
In a tragic incident driver and another person on board a Tata mobile load carrier died apparently due to suffocation while waiting for stranded traffic to clear on Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only surface link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country.
The road was closed after heavy snowfall around Jawahar tunnel and these two persons had started heater in their load carrier (JK09B-7358) to keep themselves warm, station house officer Banihal Nahiem Matoo. However, they were found dead inside the load carrier near railway station and apparently died due to suffocation. “Bodies have been taken to hospital and further proceedings as per law would be done,” he added.
The deceased have been identified as Majid Gulzar Mir son of Mohammad Gulzar Mir and Shabir Ahmad Mir son of Abdul Rashid Mir, both residents of Kralpora Kupwara.
Sources told GNS that stranded drivers also staged a protest accusing the authorities of delaying the opening of the thoroughfare which according to them led to the death of the duo due to severe cold.
