JAMMU: Heavy rains again hampered the National Highways Authority of India's efforts to restore traffic on the landslide-hit Jammu-Srinagar national highway which remained closed for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday.
The pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi temple atop the Trikuta hills also remained suspended for the 13th consecutive day even as the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) restored traffic on the Basohli-Bani road in Kathua district by bypassing the damaged portion, officials said.
A traffic department official said the Jammu-Srinagar national highway is still closed for vehicular movement. Repair work is underway. He advised people not to travel on this arterial road till the repair work is completed. Shubham, project manager of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Ramban sector, said heavy rains again hampered the work of clearing a 250-metre-long portion buried under a hill at Tharad in Udhampur district this morning.
Explosives were used to bring down huge rocks as part of efforts to ensure early repair of the highway. Despite rains, our men and machines are on the job but the work is progressing at a slow pace.
The only all-weather highway linking Kashmir with the rest of the country came to a halt on September 2 and was again closed two days later after traffic was partially restored to remove vehicles stranded for nearly a week.
The official said that except for the four-lane highway section at Thard which is completely submerged under a moving hill, the rest of the highway has been cleared for two-way traffic.
The prolonged closure of the highway for nearly a fortnight left hundreds of vehicles, mostly trucks carrying horticultural produce and essential commodities, stranded on both sides.
A Met department spokesperson has forecast light rain or thundershowers at many places in Jammu and Kashmir. Also, moderate rain or thundershowers are likely in some districts of Jammu division on September 7 and 8 late night or early morning.
Meanwhile, BRO has restored traffic on Basohli-Bani road in Kathua district, bringing relief to stranded people.
Due to incessant rains, a portion of the road from Basohli to Bani was washed away, creating a huge gap in the road at Tikri Mor, 47 km from Basohli. A completely new structure had to be built to cross the damaged portion of the road. This work was done with men and machines taking calculated risks in dangerous weather and inaccessible terrain. This was stated by Defence PRO Jammu in a post on X. He said that connectivity has been restored, establishing connectivity from Basohli in Kathua to Bhaderwah in Doda district.
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