Traffic has been restored on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44) on Thursday following a day-long restoration work that had choked both tubes of the road near the Ramban district. The traffic was halted after landslides shut the road on both sides, leaving hundreds of passenger vehicles and trucks carrying essential commodities stranded.
Considered the critical or jugular vein of Jammu and Kashmir, the 270-kilometre-long highway provides road connectivity of Kashmir to the rest of the country.
The highway was opened for traffic on one side on Tuesday; however, back-to-back landslides had prompted authorities to close down the key highway, leaving it shut for two straight days.
The clearance operation was initiated by authorities to clear the debris accumulated on both lanes. It took authorities nearly 48 hours and constant work to clear the debris from the Ramban pass before it was opened for traffic on Thursday.
According to Traffic Department officials, the police cleared nearly 1,000 stranded vehicles after clearing landslides at the Digdol, Khooni Nallah, Karol Bridge and Chanderkote areas of Ramban.
Meanwhile, the MeT office in Srinagar has predicted erratic weather conditions to continue across the region until April 10, with more rain and snowfall over widespread areas of the region over the next few days.
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