Srinagar-Jammu highway stays closed for third day

Srinagar, March 17 (IANS) The strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway remained closed for the third consecutive day on Tuesday even though road clearance operations were started after rain and snowfall stopped in the morning.

Heavy snowfall in the Banihal sector and landslides triggered by rain in the Ramban sector of the over 300-km Natioal Highway No.1A hampered road clearance operations the past three days, forcing closure of the Kashmir Valley's only surface link with the rest of the country.

"The weather has improved since morning and road clearance operations have started."

"There will, however, be no traffic on the highway today (Tuesday) and intending travellers must contact the traffic control rooms in Jammu and Srinagar before undertaking the journey tomorrow," a senior official of the traffic department told IANS here.

Railway authorities also started track clearance operations on Tuesday morning and the Baramulla-Banihal rail service is expected to be resumed in the afternoon.

With the improvement in visibility, authorities at the Srinagar International Airport said they are expecting resumption of air traffic to and from the valley.

The landlocked valley remained cut off from the rest of the country on Monday as both surface and air traffic had to be suspended because of heavy snowfall in the valley and rainfall in the Jammu region.

Authorities are also working to restore electricity supply in areas where snowfall uprooted electric poles and disrupted power supply on Monday.

Another problem faced by the people here is waterlogging. Roads, lanes and bylanes in markets and residential areas are all under water.

This has been causing hardships to both pedestrians and motorists in the city during the last three days.

All the drains in the city, which has a population of 1.3 million, got choked by unprecedented floods in September last year as well.