Agencies

Jammu, March 26:

The 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only all weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was close today for weekly Friday maintenance, a traffic police official said.

Traffic on the highway was resumed yesterday after remaining suspended for two days due to land and mudslides and shooting stones.

Meanwhile, the national highway, the only road linking the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir, historic Mughal road and Anantnag-Kishtwar roads remained closed due to accumulation of snow and avalanches.

Traffic official said today that no traffic movement was allowed on the highway from Srinagar or Jammu to allow National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to undertake weekly maintenance and repair work on the road, particularly between Nashree and Jawahar tunnel.

The historic 86-km-long Mughal road which remained closed for any traffic or pedestrian movement since December last year. There are many avalanche prone areas on the road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region. The road is seen as alternative to Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The Anantnag-Kishtwar road also remained closed due to accumulation of snow.

The Srinagar-Leh national highway also remained closed since January Ist this year due to accumulation of snow and avalanche.

However, Beacon had cleared the snow and declared the highway open on February 28 only to suspend traffic again after few hours due to fresh snowfall and avalanches.Traffic to Sonamarg was also suspended due to snowfall. However, traffic was allowed from Srinagar to tourist resort of Sonamarg on the highway after remaining suspended for about a week.