Landslide blocks Jammu-Srinagar national highway, damages bridge

Hundreds of vehicles got stranded in the aftermath of the landslide and efforts are on to shift them to safer places away from the landslide prone-areas

Traffic on the 300-km-long Jammu-Srinagar national highway was suspended this evening after a massive landslide blocked the arterial road and also damaged a bridge in Udhampur district, officials said.

A landslide also struck the highway at Makarkot in Ramsu area of Ramban district around 2000 hours on Sunday.(Nitin Kanotra /HT File)

“The landslide struck the national highway, the only all weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, at Morh Passi near Balli Nallah in Udhampur district around 4.33pm, damaging a bridge and blocking the road,” a spokesman of the Traffic department told PTI.

He said men and machinery have been pressed into service and the road is expected to be made traffic worthy by tomorrow evening.

Hundreds of vehicles got stranded in the aftermath of the landslide and efforts are on to shift them to safer places away from the landslide prone-areas, the spokesman said.

A landslide also struck the highway at Makarkot in Ramsu area of Ramban district around 2000 hours on Sunday.

However, the landslide was cleared within one-and-a-half hour and the highway was reopened for traffic late last night, the officials said.

While the light motor vehicles were plying on the highway from both sides today, load carriers and security convoys were not allowed from this side due to one-way restriction for heavy vehicles in view of the ongoing widening and repair work at various patches especially Panthyal in Ramban district.