500-m link road damaged by landslide in Ramban district, causing traffic halt and power supply disruption. Residents evacuated to safety.
Ramban: A 500-m stretch of a link road was on Thursday damaged after a landslide in Ramban district around. The incident, which took place around 7.45 pm near Pernote village, also resulted in several electricity poles being uprooted. The movement of traffic was stopped and residents of Pernote were rushed to safety.
Ramban deputy magistrate Baseer-up-Haq Chaudhary took to ‘X’ to relay the information. “Massive subsidence/sinking at km 5 on Ramban-Gool Road! Road blocked, all vehicles halted. Restoration work underway for road connectivity and power supply affected by road sinking. Ramban-Gool road currently blocked. Stay tuned for updates,” he wrote.
“Also on the directions of deputy commissioner, Ramban, ambulance has been kept stationed on the site, men and machinery mobilised to restore the connectivity & power supply to the affected area,” it read further.
Sharing details, Border Roads Organisation l commanding officer SK Gautam, said, “While 50 metres of the road has been washed out, the remaining 450 metres has sunk. The area has Murree formation and has red soil, akin to Joshimath. Presently, a mass movement is on. We have requisitioned men and machinery, which are on a standby. We are waiting for the mass movement to stabilise. Thereafter, the repair and restoration work of the affected stretch can be taken up.”
Heavy rains had lashed the region, which is prone to land subsidence as the seepage of rainwater causes soil erosion. Ramban additional superintendent of police Gaurav Mahajan said the link road between Ramban and Dharamkubd has developed cracks. “We have stopped traffic movement and the machines have reached the affected stretch,” he added.
A police team has also been dispatched to the affected area. Rajinder Kumar, a resident of Ramban, said land subsidence has disconnected the Gool tehsil including Sangaldan with the Ramban district headquarter and the NH44 as well.
“With damage to the road due to land subsidence, the national projects of 1,850 MW Sawlakote hydel power project and the finishing work on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Line (USBRL) project may also get affected,” he said.
The affected road is under the 52-Road Construction Company (RCC) GREF of Beacon. The area where land subsidence has taken place today, is 5 km from Ramban district headquarter.
