Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Jan 11: Several thousand vehicles, including those carrying passengers, are stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway due to slippery road conditions coupled with heavy traffic jam, official sources said on Saturday.
No fresh vehicle would be allowed from Jammu or Srinagar, when only stranded vehicles would be allowed to move towards their respective destinations, sources said.
They said over 1200 Kashmir bound Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs), loaded with diesel, petrol, LPG and other essentials, are stranded on the other side of the Jawahar tunnel. Similarly hundreds of passenger vehicles, which had left Srinagar on Friday, are stranded at Banihal and other areas, they said.
They further said due to below freezing temperature, the road between Jawahar tunnel-Ramban and Ramsu had become very slippery. HMVs which had stranded for the past two days on the highway were allowed to move towards Kashmir yesterday morning. Large number of vehicles had crossed the tunnel for the valley, they said, adding, however over 1200 HMVs remained stranded as the road had become was very slippery in the afternoon.
The LMV passenger vehicles on way to Jammu were stopped at Banihal and Qazigund, they said, adding it was decided to allow these vehicles only after Kashmir bound HMVs would cross tunnel. But due to slippery road conditions, vehicles were moving in a very low speed, they stated.
Jammu bound passengers alleged that despite one-way, vehicles were allowed from opposite direction also, leading to massive traffic jam.
Hundreds of passengers had to spend their night in vehicles despite below freezing temperature, they added, adding some passengers returned to Qazigund.
The passengers demanded that one-way traffic rule should be implemented strictly to avoid frequent and massive traffic jam on the Highway.
Meanwhile, the 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh National Highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) Ladakh with Kashmir valley, remained suspended for the past over one month on Saturday due to accumulation of over five feet snow and slippery condition.
The historic 86-km-long Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, and Anantnag-Kishtwar road also remained closed for the past 32 days. There is no possibility of reopening of these roads before April-May. |
