The landslide-hit Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for a second day on Monday, with a senior NHAI official saying the road clearance operation, underway at 20 locations, was likely to take about six days.
Hundreds of vehicles were left stranded on the strategic 250-kilometre highway — the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country — on Sunday after heavy rainfall and cloudbursts triggered flash floods, landslides and mudslides in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district.
Three persons, including two minor siblings, were killed and more than 100 people were rescued as the natural calamity caused massive damage to infrastructure, including roads and residential buildings. A number of vehicles were also buried under the debris.
“We are faced with a challenging situation due to massive deposits of muck on the highway at more than a dozen places, especially on the four-kilometre stretch between Seri and Maroog. The height of the sludge at some places is more than 20 feet,” National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project director Purshottam Kumar said.
The agency’s major machinery, including earth movers, are buried under the debris, he added.
“Despite limited available resources of our own, we have arranged machinery from private contractors and deployed those at 20 affected locations simultaneously to speed up the restoration work,” he said, expressing satisfaction at the improved weather condition after two days of heavy rain.
However, Kumar said the highway was likely to take five to six days to reopen for traffic.
The highway has suffered major damages near Panthiyal and Kela Morh, he added.
Meanwhile, stranded commuters, including two newlywed couples, were seen moving on foot to reach their destinations.
“The road is destroyed (at a number of places). The situation is very bad,” Rajasthan native Devi Lal, who is heading home from the Magam area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district, told PTI Videos in Ramban.
Accompanied by other members of his community, including women and children, Lal said they were walking to cross the problematic stretches before boarding a bus to Jammu.
Jamna, who was carrying a minor child on her shoulders, said stones and boulders were still coming down the hills overlooking the highway and added that the situation was frightening.
“We have not taken meals for the past two days,” she said as the group made their way to Udhampur.
Dressed in their wedding attire, Zahir Ahmad and Zaheera Bano were expecting a smooth ride into their new life together but it turned into an unforgettable journey as the newlywed couple had to walk from the bride’s Chenani home to the groom’s residence in Ramban.
“It was tiring but, in a way, it made the day even more special,” said Ahmad, adding he wanted no other person to experience such an ordeal.