Rajouri, June 4: The Mughal Road restoration is expected to take 24 to 48 hours as the temporary track built so far has been found unsuitable for movement of vehicles, officials said.
They added that the further improvement in this track will be made on Monday. Mughal Road is an important stretch of surface connectivity that connects Poonch district with Shopian and acts as alternate to Srinagar- Jammu national highway
This important road got closed on Tuesday evening when a landslide hit the area near Ratta Chamb bridge and a major portion of hill fell downwards blocking the road completely. Around 300 to 400 meters stretch is affected with this slide.
The slide clearance work was started on Thursday morning but it could not be taken up on pace due to bad weather conditions.
On Saturday also, the work got suspended for six times due to bad weather conditions as well as shooting stones.
Executive Engineer of Mughal Road Projects, Shokat Ali said that the slide debris over road stretch from slide affected area has been cleared.
“However, we fear that more slide debris can move downwards,” he said. The Executive Engineer on the other hand said that a temporary track has also been built over the slide debris as the existing actual road stretch is missing under debris but this temporary track is not stable yet and will be improved on Monday.
Deputy SP Traffic Rajouri Poonch Mohammad Nawaz told that the concerned engineering department is working for slide clearance and a temporary track was built today but it has been found unstable and unsuitable for movement of vehicles. ” The manpower of the concerned department has cleared debris to make temporary track but it needs improvement which will be made on Monday,” he said.
Deputy SP further said that road could only be made functional after a proper track which is expected to take 24-48 hours.