Trapped in a flash flood in Kathua, four people were rescued on Monday. After receiving information, a team of the State Disaster Response Force, along with policemen, rescued them from the Ravi river, officials said. As many as 58 people were rescued from various flash flood-hit waterbodies in the district on Sunday.
Srinagar Jammu National Highway Monday remained blocked on the third consecutive day due to the sinking of a portion of a road at Chamba-Seri near Ramban.
Officials said, “It is likely to be restored for vehicular traffic on July 12, 2023 i.e., Wednesday.” “Efforts are being made to restore the road as the concerned agency NHAI is working round the clock to restore Srinagar Jammu National Highway (NH-44) at Chamba-Seri by preparing an alternate road to bypass the damaged road stretch. For this purpose, more than half a dozen machines were pressed into service at Chamba-Seri,” officials informed.
“The alternate road alignment is prepared and road levelling and other allied works are in progress,” said an Engineer of NHAI. He said road restoration work would be completed by Tuesday afternoon or evening. He said road restoration work was going on round the clock.
Deputy Commissioner Ramban Mussarat Islam was personally monitoring the road restoration work at Chamba-Seri and other places.
Meanwhile, the traffic authorities said it would remain closed on Tuesday also.
“Collective efforts from the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory administration and NHAI, put in throughout the day on Monday resulted in substantial improvement in the road condition. However, complete restoration is expected to take some time, it has been decided by the UT administration to keep the traffic on National Highway- 44 suspended on Tuesday also,” the authorities said, while issuing a traffic advisory, in continuation to the one issued yesterday with respect to NH-44.
“Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) are advised to take Mughal road for journeys from Jammu to Srinagar and vice versa. Traffic is likely to resume on July 12, 2023 (Wednesday), however, the next update will be issued tomorrow evening,” the advisory further read.
Deputy Commissioner Ramban Mussarat Islam, accompanied by senior officers, reviewed the road restoration works on the NH-44 which was damaged due to sinking caused by flash floods and landslides during incessant rains at Chamba-Seri and other locations.
The Deputy Commissioner was accompanied by the SSP, Traffic NHW, Rohit Baskotra; SSP Mohita Sharma; ADC Harbans Lal, and an officer from NHAI among other concerned officers.
The landslides had earlier blocked the 270-km long National Highway, at Mehad, Seri, Panthyal, and some other critical spots in Ramban district.
The Deputy Commissioner inspected the Seri-Chamba stretch of NH-44, where the road caved in due to an unprecedented increase in the water level of river Chenab.
After discussing the measures being taken by NHAI and its concessionaire companies engaged in the four-laning of National Highway works, the Deputy Commissioner directed the officers of NHAI and executing agencies to expedite the restoration work and use adequate men and machinery for immediate restoration of traffic.
He advised the passengers to contact the Traffic Control Room (TCR) before embarking on their journeys on the National Highway.
Deputy Commissioner also inspected Yatri Niwas Chanderkote, langars and lodgement centres established for Amarnath pilgrims by the district administration for their comfortable stay in the district.
The DC directed all the officers, who were assigned different duties, to extend all necessary services to stranded yatris for their stay at Yatri Niwas Chanderkote, Yatra Camp, Lamber, Banihal, and other lodgement centres.
Hundreds of vehicles including those of Amarnath pilgrims are stranded at different locations between Jammu and Srinagar due to blockade of the Srinagar Jammu National Highway for the last three days.
Meanwhile, electricity officials have appealed to the Jammu residents to use power judiciously as recent rains have severely impacted power generation in J&K. “A lot of silt has accumulated in hydropower plants. The Central sector power availability in the UT has been nosedived by 1,300 megawatts. The situation will be normalised in three or four days,” a spokesperson of the department said.
The bad weather has delayed the arrival of Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Ladakh. Scheduled to reach there on Monday, he will now land at the Leh airport on Tuesday. A spokesperson of the Leh airport said that due to bad weather, all scheduled operating airlines had cancelled their operations for Monday. “Visibility was around 3,000 metres which is below requirement for operations at the Leh airport,” he added.
6,000 pilgrims await Yatra resumption
At least 6,000 pilgrims are stranded at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu waiting to move towards the Amarnath shrine. They are awaiting resumption of the traffic movement on the Srinagar highway.
Dalai Lama’s visit delayed owing to bad weather
Set to reach Ladakh on Monday, Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama will land at the Leh airport on Tuesday as the poor visibility is not conducive for flight operations, a spokesperson for the airport stated.
Use power judiciously, officials urge people
Electricity officials appealed to the Jammu residents to use power judiciously as recent rains have severely impacted power generation in J&K. The situation will be normalised in 3-4 days, a spokesperson said.
