The traffic on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was disrupted for 5 hours due to triggering of shooting stones from a hillock on the Mehar-Cafeteria Stretch near Ramban on Tuesday.
Traffic authorities said that the highway remained blocked for 5 hours due to shooting stones on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch of Ramban. They said that the movement of traffic remained slow due to the breakdown of 10 Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) between Nashri and Banihal.
Officials said that due to shooting stones on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch of the highway near Ramban, traffic remained suspended for a few hours on Tuesday morning. They said that the debris and stones accumulated on the highway were cleared and traffic was resumed. Officials said that despite intermittent shooting stones, traffic resumed on a one-way basis on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch.
They said, earlier in the morning, hundreds of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) carrying Amarnath Yatris, tourists and locals crossed the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch for their respective destinations without any interruption. They said HMVs carrying essential supplies for Kashmir also crossed the Ramban-Banihal stretch of the highway and headed towards Kashmir.
J&K Traffic Department issued an advisory for Wednesday stating that subject to fair weather and good road conditions LMVs including those ferrying Amarnath Yatris would be allowed to move on either side of the highway. They said that after assessing the road and traffic situation, HMVs would be allowed to move from Qazigund, Kashmir to Jammu on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, At least two workers died and six others were injured when a landslide hit an under-construction building near Mian Bagh area of Udhampur district. The dead were identified as Anirudh Kumar Nayak, 42, son of Nand Kishore of Nayak Mohalla, Madhya Pradesh and Rakesh Kumar, son of Nasseb Chand of Satyalta Ghordi, Udhampur.
The incident occurred while construction work on a private building was going on and 11 labourers were busy at the site. The landslide triggered by rains damaged the building. The preliminary investigation of the Police found that the building had been damaged due to a landslide on the backside of the construction area.
Soon after getting information about the building collapse, locals, a Police team in Udhampur, paramilitary CRPF, and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) launched a joint rescue and search operation to dig out people trapped underneath the debris of the collapsed buildings. During the rescue operation, the joint teams managed to rescue six people alive from the debris and rushed them to the hospitals.
As the rescue operation proceeded, the rescue teams recovered two bodies of the workers from the landslide hit under-construction building. “Tracking of their phone numbers it was determined that both the trapped individuals were located beneath the rubble,” Kartar Singh, the Second in Command (2IC) of CRPF 137 Bn in Udhampur said.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Udhampur, Anwar-ul-Haq said that they rescued six workers who were admitted at District Hospital Udhampur. The injured have been identified as Devi Din Kushwah, 18, son of Ishwar Dayal; Shoket Ali, 25, son of Muhammed Qasim of Dandyal; Druvish Sharma, 18, son of Bishan Sharma of Saillan Talab; Master Mian, 45, son of Khilab Mian of Bihar at present Saillan Talab; Shamiya, 30, wife of Balram of Jojara Talab; and Thakur Dass, 25, son of Payare Lal of Saillan Talab. The condition of Shamiya is stated to be critical.
Meanwhile, the district administration in Udhampur constituted an inquiry committee into the incident. “Today, due to landslides in an under-construction building at Ward Number 21, Kaller Himiti in Udhampur, two labourers died on the spot and six were seriously injured,” reads an order issued by Additional District Magistrate, Udhampur, Joginder Singh.
Accordingly, a three-member committee consisting of Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ramnagar (Chairman), Assistant Labour Commissioner, Udhampur, and Town Planner Udhampur as members has been constituted. “This committee would submit a comprehensive report with specific recommendations, fixing of responsibility for lapses, if any, to this office within seven days positively,” the order said.
