Jammu-Srinagar highway reopens after more than 30 hours, over 500 stranded vehicles cleared off

Senior superintendent of Police (SSP), Traffic, Shabir Ahmad Malik said that dozens of “stranded trucks” were allowed to move from Kashmir to Jammu after the highway opened up again.

The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44) that connects the Union territory (UT) with the rest of India reopened on Sunday after being shut for more than 30 hours, senior superintendent of Police (SSP), Traffic, Shabir Ahmad Malik told news agency PTI. The highway has been closed since Saturday owing to landslides and shooting stones in Ramban and Udhampur triggered by incessant rain and untimely snowfall.

Jammu and Kashmir has been plagued by extreme weather conditions. (ANI Photo)

Malik told PTI that more than 500 vehicles, mostly trucks, which were stuck on the 270-km stretch due to the closure, have been cleared from Jammu to Srinagar. “Dozens of stranded trucks were also allowed to move from Kashmir to Jammu,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

He further noted that the debris clearance work was sped up early Sunday morning following improvement in weather in the UT. By afternoon, the NH-44 was back to normal operations for one-way traffic.

However, Malik clarified that after the opening of the highway, no fresh traffic was allowed “either from Jammu or Srinagar,” adding that depending on the weather conditions, light motor vehicles would be permitted on both sides of the NH-44.

Three persons belonging to a nomad group died on Saturday and one was left injured after their tent came under landslide debris in south Kashmir’s Awantipora, Pulwama deputy commissioner Baseer Ul Haq Choudhary said.

Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing extreme weather conditions comprising heavy snowfall and rain since early last week, which has caused many rain-triggered incidents in the UT, including landslides.