Srinagar-Jammu highway remains closed for second day due to landslides

Srinagar: The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the only all-weather road link between Kashmir and rest of the country, remained closed for the second day on Tuesday due to landslides at several place along the route. The 300-km arterial road was closed for traffic on Monday following heavy snowfall in Kashmir and Banihal on the other side of Jawahar Tunnel and rainfall in rest of the state.

"The Srinagar-Jammu road is closed due to landslides at several places caused by rainfall and snowfall over the past 48 hours," an official of the traffic department said.

He added that work was on to remove the landslide debris "as soon as possible" to restore the road link. An Airport Authority of India official at Srinagar International Airport said that although no flights have arrived so far, air traffic is likely to resume later in the day.

"So far no flights have arrived but we are expecting the flights to arrive later in the day," the official said.

All flights to Srinagar were cancelled on Monday due to continuous heavy snowfall throughout the day. The downpour has caused widespread damage to power supply infrastructure while mobile and internet services were badly affected.