Ramban flash flood: Jammu-Srinagar highway closed for 3rd consecutive day

Jammu, April 22 (IANS) The strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for the third consecutive day on Tuesday, and officials said it would take five more days to restore the highway.

Engineers of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said the highway is damaged at 22 locations, and restoration work is in full swing.

Landslides triggered by flash floods killed three people on Sunday in Ramban district, while over 100 were rescued.

Nearly 4 to 5 km of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was completely washed away, and the debris buried many vehicles under it.

Hundreds of passengers are stranded on the highway as authorities stepped in to provide shelter and food to the stranded passengers.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, braving adverse weather, reached Kali Morh on the highway on Monday to personally supervise the relief operation and assess the damage.

He said the damage was huge, but the disaster happened at a local level and as such, it cannot be declared as a ‘national disaster’.

CM Abudllah, however, assured that all possible relief and assistance would be provided to the affected families.

Former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah has requested the Centre to step in with relief for the affected families.

Meanwhile, V.K. Bidhuri, divisional commissioner (Kashmir), has again appealed to people in the Valley not to indulge in panic buying as there are sufficient stocks of foodgrains and petroleum products to last for a fortnight.

People have been mobbing filling stations across the Valley to buy petrol and diesel much beyond their daily requirement.

“This panic buying can result in depleting the stocks as we are noticing three times more rush of motorists than usual each day,” said the attendant at a filling station in Ganderbal district.

The Mughal Road connecting the south Kashmir Shopian district with Rajouri district of Jammu division is at present open for one-way traffic for light motor vehicles (LMVs).

The blockade of the Jammu-Srinagar highway has also created a rush for air tickets as tourists and locals going out of the Valley prefer air travel over the uncertainty of surface travel.

--IANS

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