Srinagar-Jammu highway remains shut for the 7th day

IAF airlifts over 500 passengers who were stranded in Jammu

Roadblock: Trucks stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Tuesday as the vital road remained closed for traffic due to landslides.

The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed for traffic for the seventh day on Tuesday in the wake of landslides due to snowfall and rains.

Special air sorties have been arranged by the government for stranded passengers in Jammu as well as in Kashmir.

“The national highway is still closed for traffic as fresh landslides have rendered it unsafe for vehicular movement,” an official of the Traffic Department here said.

Fresh landslides

He said landslides have occurred at a few places near Ramban and Ramsoo, leaving behind a trail of muck.

There have been fresh landslides at Mehar in Ramban and other places near Ramsoo on Monday which have blocked the highway, the official said.

He said the men and machinery were on the job and authorities were trying their best to clear the road.

The highway, the only all-weather road link between the Valley and rest of the country, was closed on Wednesday last following heavy rains and snowfall.

The road was thrown open for one-way traffic for a brief period on Sunday after remaining closed for four days.

Meanwhile, the IAF on Tuesday carried out sorties to evacuate over 500 passengers who were stranded in Jammu following closure of the highway. About 830 passengers, who were stranded at Jammu bus stand, were ferried to IAF station here in 17 SRTC buses. Of them 530 passengers were airlifted in two sorties by IL-76 aircraft to Srinagar, IAF officials said.

More sorties

More sorties are likely between Udhampur and Srinagar , they said.