Jammu-Sgr National Highway reopens for one way traffic
Srinagar: After remaining closed for about three days due to fresh snowfall, the national highway (NHW) connecting Kashmir valley with other parts of the country was thrown open for one sided traffic, police officials said.
“The highway has been restored and movement of traffic has been allowed after two days, an official of the Traffic Department said.
He, however, said only one-way traffic is being allowed to ply on the nearly 300-km highway, the only road-link connecting the valley with the rest of the country.
“Keeping in view the overall condition of the road and narrow width of the highway at some places, strict one-way movement of traffic is being allowed,” the official said.
The NHW was closed following the landslides after fresh snowfall at different places. A police official said that landslides and shooting stones at Marog, Panthyal, Qazigund-Jawahar Tunnel and Banihal- Jawahar Tunnel sectors forced the authorities to close the highway.
The official said that the traffic was allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar side in a regulated manner. “Under the said plan movement of LMVs/passenger vehicles were allowed from Nagrota (Jammu) from 0500 hours up to 1000 hours and from Udhampur up to 1100 hours only,” he said.
“The movement of Load Carriers was allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar and movement of these vehicles shall be regulated from Udhampur itself,” he added.
He said that, no movement of any sort of vehicle including convoys of Army, BSF, CRPF, ITBP, SSB was allowed. He added that no vehicle from Srinagar towards Jammu was allowed in order to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the NHW.
Meanwhile, the air traffic at Srinagar International Airport was running smoothly following the improvement in the weather conditions and visibility in Srinagar.
“All flights are operating normally. Indigo will operate 2 additional flights today. Guests are requested to cooperate and not panic,” official Twitter handle of the airport said.
Meanwhile, the night temperature across Kashmir division, including Ladakh region, decreased with Pahalgam and Gulmarg registering the coldest nights of the season.
The minimum temperature across Kashmir went down last night, an official of the Meteorological Department here said.
He said Srinagar the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir recorded a low of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius last night down from the previous night’s minus 0.7 degree Celsius.
Gulmarg recorded a low of 9.8 degrees Celsius, he said, adding it was the lowest night temperature this season at the resort. The resort was the coldest recorded place in the state.
The MET Office has forecast light rain or snowfall at isolated places in the state over the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, MeT office said that the weather will show signs of improvement from Friday morning.
KV Correspondent
