Agencies
Srinagar, April 26:
Traffic was on Monday resumed on the 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only all weather road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, after remaining suspended on Sunday due to Corona curfew from Saturday night for 34 hours following surge in the COVID-19 positive cases in the Union Territory (UT).
An official spokesman said that 2381 new positive cases of novel Corona virus (COVID-19) were reported in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. He said 848 from were reported form Jammu division and 1533 from Kashmir division , thus taking the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 160755. Also 21 COVID-19 deaths have been reported, 11 from Jammu Division and 10 from Kashmir Division, he said.
In view of surge in the COVID-19 cases, the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha imposed curfew from 2000 hrs on Saturday till 0600 hrs on Monday to break the chain of COVID-19 due to which traffic on the highway was suspended on Sunday.
‘On Monday we resumed traffic on the highway since 34-hour-long COVID-19 curfew has ended at 0600 hrs this morning’, a traffic police official said.
He said Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) carrying passengers were allowed to leave Srinagar and other parts of the valley for Jammu today. However, the vehicles had to cross Zig Qazigund between 0700 hrs to1200 hrs, he said adding that no vehicle would be allowed after cut of timing.
Only stranded Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) in Udhampur jurisdiction will be allowed to move towards Kashmir, he said.
He said security forces are advised to not to ply against traffic advisory in view of traffic congestion on the highway. They may ply from Jammu to Srinagar after confirming the status of the highway, he added.
Meanwhile, the historic 86-km-long Mughal road, being considered alternative to Srinagar-Jammu national highway, remained closed since December last year. The road connects Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region.
