Kashmir highway reopens this afternoon

Srinagar, Dec 12 (UNI) Traffic on the 300-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway resumed again this afternoon after remaining suspended for several hours due to landslides and shooting of stones, triggered by heavy rains.

The authorities had allowed passenger traffic from Srinagar and Jammu this morning after the highway reopened yesterday afternoon after remaining closed for seven days.

A traffic police official told UNI the stranded vehicles were again suspended on the highway, the lifeline of Kashmir which links the Valley with the rest of the country, after fresh landslides at Penthal today.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintainance of the highway, have again pressed into service hundreds of passengers and sophisticated machines to clear stones on the highway, he added.

However, police said the traffic resumed again at 1500 hrs after the landslides were cleared and shooting of stones stopped.

They said all the stranded vehicles were allowed to move towards their respective destinations.

Official sources said more than 5000 passengers, who left Srinagar and Jammu this morning, were stranded on the highway.

Hundreds of trucks loaded with essential commodities and fruits had also been stranded at different points on the highway, they added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers today protested in the city against the shortage of vehicles.

The passengers, mostly labourers from different parts of the country, alleged that authorities had failed to provide a sufficient number of vehicles to them.

The drivers had been charging more than a double fare from the passengers, they alleged.

UNI BAS HS HT1638