Kashmir highway remains closed on 9th day, stranded vehicles cleared

Srinagar, Mar 19 (UNI) The Kashmir valley remained cut off the for the ninth consecutive day today as the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway -- the life line to Kashmir -- remained closed due to landslides and shooting stones.

However, light vehicles stranded on the highway since March 11 were allowed to move towards their respective destinations last evening.

''If things go all right and weather remains dry for next 24 hours, traffic on the highway may be resumed partially tomorrow,'' a traffic police official told UNI here.

He said some light vehicles had left Jammu this morning. However, there was light rains in the area again today.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of the highway, has pressed into service hundreds of workers and machiness to repair the damaged portion of the highway at Penthal, the most trouble spot on the road, linking the valley with the rest of the country.

They are working round the clock, but keeping in view the intensity of the damage caused to the road by shooting stones, triggered by rains last week at Penthal, it may take some more time to put through traffic, the sources said.

However, the traffic police, with the help of Divisional Administration, Jammu, and State Road Transpor Corporation (SRTC) has helped more than two thousand people, stranded at Jammu for the past two weeks, to reach Srinagar.

The authorities operated buses of SRTC with passengers, stranded at Jammu since March 10 upto Penthal. These passengers crossed Penthal on foot to board vehicles on the other side for Srinagar as there was no other alternative. Similarly those who had come from Srinagar had to cross Penthal on foot and board buses for Jammu.

About about six thousand passengers are stranded at Jammu, the sources added.

About a thousand vehicles, including trucks loaded with essential commodities are stranded on the highway after it was closed for traffic due to landslides triggered by heavy rains.

UNI