Massive landslide cuts off Kishtwar from Jammu
27/02/2017
Jammu, Feb 26: A massive landslide has cut off the mountainous district of Kishtwar from the city, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded en route the Doda-Kishtwar highway, police said today.
The highway has been blocked due to massive landslide in Drabshala belt yesterday and is covered with big rocks and boulders, they said.
The men and machinery, both are working to clear the blockade on the highway, police said, adding over 100 vehicles are stranded at various places en route the highway.
Meanwhile, hundreds of vehicles, including those carrying passengers and trucks loaded with essentials, left Jammu this morning for the Kashmir valley as the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway was through for only one-way traffic.
The historic Mughal Road remained closed while border town of Gurez, surrounded by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), was cut off from the Valley due to accumulation of snow.
“The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was through for one-way traffic,” a traffic police official said.
He said all types of vehicles, including those carrying passengers and trucks loaded with essentials, left Jammu this morning for the Kashmir valley. However, no vehicle will be allowed from opposite direction.
He said that only one-way traffic will continue on the highway, the only road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, till further orders to avoid traffic jam.
Traffic on the Kashmir highway has been disrupted frequently due to snowfall and landslides besides slippery road conditions since first heavy snowfall on January 6.
The 85-km-long historic Mughal Road, linking Shopian in South Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch remained closed since last month due to heavy snowfall. However, the Government is planning to construct a tunnel to make it an all weather road, which is seen as alternative to the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, traffic on which is disrupted frequently due to landslides and shooting stones.
There is about ten feet of snow on the road at several places, including Peer Ki Gali, Dubjan and Chattapani. The road is likely to reopen in April-May months, official sources said.
Dozens of far-flung and remote villages, including those near the LoC in the frontier district of Kupwara and Bandipora remained cut off from their respective district and tehsil headquarters because of snow. The road from Bandipora to border town of Gurez remained closed due to accumulation of snow on the road.
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