Srinagar-Jammu highway remains closed for fourth day

Srinagar, March 18 (IANS) The strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway remained closed for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday as the authorities said restoration work was on in the over 300-km long road.

"Due to multiple landslides in the Ramban sector, the Srinagar-Jammu highway is still closed," a senior traffic department official told IANS here.

"Road clearance operations are going on and we are hopeful of restoring the highway for traffic by today (Wednesday) afternoon."

"After restoration, only stranded vehicles will be allowed to move to their destination and no fresh traffic will be allowed till all the stranded vehicles are cleared," he added.

While nearly 2,000 vehicles have been stranded along the highway for the last four days, authorities have confirmed that there were no passenger vehicles among them but trucks carrying various kinds of supplies to Kashmir Valley.

Built in 1921 by the erstwhile Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh, the highway is the landlocked valley's only road connection with the rest of the country.

Temporary closures of the road due to weather-related issues have traditionally helped hoarders and profiteers hike prices of essential commodities by creating artificial scarcity of goods in the region.