Fresh landslide in Ramban closes down Jammu-Srinagar highway again

A landslide at Karol in Ramban district has again blocked the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar highway hours after it was reopened for traffic on Wednesday morning.

Vehicular movement on the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country came to a halt after it was blocked by the massive landslide near Jaiswal bridge at Karol in Ramban.

After working through the night, the road maintenance agency was able to clear the debris on Wednesday morning, leading to the reopening of the highway was at 7.30am to clear only stranded vehicles.

Nearly 2,000 light motor vehicles and stranded trucks managed to cross the affected stretch before it was again blocked by a landslide at the same location around 10.30 am.

A traffic official said efforts are on to restore the traffic but continuous falling of stones from the hilltop were hampering road clearance.

Meanwhile, cold wave conditions continued to grip the Jammu region. There has been a significant fall in Jammu’s day temperature from 17.6 to 13.7 degrees Celsius in the past 24 hours, while the night temperature improved by two notches. As per the meteorological department, the weather will be cloudy and foggy in Jammu on Thursday.