Ramban, April 21: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the second day on Monday due to landslides and the road clearance operation underway at around 20 places is likely to take around six days, a senior NHAI official said.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the 250-km-long highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, after flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains and cloudbursts in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district yesterday.
Over 100 people have been rescued so far, as the natural disaster has caused extensive damage to infrastructure including roads and residential buildings. Several vehicles were also buried under the debris, the official said.
We are facing a challenging situation as massive amounts of mud have accumulated at more than 12 locations on the four-kilometre stretch of highway between Seri and Marug. The mud height is more than 20 feet at some places, Purushottam Kumar, Project Director, National Highways Authority of India, told the media.
The organization's key machinery, including earthmoving machinery, has been buried under the debris, he said. Although our own resources are limited, we have arranged for machinery from private contractors to speed up the restoration work and have deployed them simultaneously at 20 affected locations, he said.