Ramban, Feb 26: The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained open for one-way traffic of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) and heavy vehicles for Jammu on Monday.
The officials said that traffic movement was halted for around two hours due to road clearance work at Dalwass during the day.
“The highway remained blocked for one hour and 45 minutes due to road clearance work at Dalwass today. Due to the single-lane road stretch at Dalwass, Mehar-Cafeteria, Ramban, Hingni and Gangroo and poor road surface conditions at several places between Nashri and Banihal sectors, traffic movement remained slow on the highway,” they said.
Due to heavy rains last week, the highway, passing through Ramban district, suffered damages at several places
They said that 83 mm of rain was recorded in the Ramban-Banihal sector due to which landslides had occurred at several places.
“Landslides were cleared but due to continuous mudslide at Dalwass and single-lane carriageways, slush and clay soil in the (Dalwass) area, vehicular traffic remained disrupted during the last few days,” they said.
Officials said that men and machinery of the concerned road maintenance agency, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), were deployed at Dalwass.
“Due to slush beside the single-lane stretch, drivers and commuters are facing problems in crossing this stretch,” they said.
The officials monitoring the regulation of traffic in Ramban said, “The highway remained open and hundreds of LMVs and heavy vehicles crossed the Nashri-Banihal tunnels for their destinations.”
SSP Traffic National Highway, Ramban, Rohit Baskotra said, “Traffic on both sides is being cleared in a regulated manner at Dalwass. Slush and single-lane carriageways are hampering smooth traffic flow there. The traffic police personnel deployed at Dalwass and other places are monitoring the regulation of traffic on the highway.”
Meanwhile, the J&K Traffic Police Department issued a fresh advisory for Tuesday stating that subject to fair weather and road conditions only one-way traffic would be allowed to ply from Nagrota, Jammu towards Kashmir.
They said cut-off timings for Srinagar-bound light vehicles were fixed from 6 am to 1 pm from Nagrota, Jammu thereafter heavy vehicles stopped at Jakhani- Udhampur would be allowed to ply towards Kashmir up to 6 pm.
They said no vehicle would be allowed to ply after cut-off timings on Tuesday.