The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was opened for one-way traffic Sunday, a day after being closed due to heavy snowfall and landslides, and over 700 stranded commuters were rescued overnight from the Jawahar tunnel area, officials said, according to a Press Trust of India report.
The only all-weather road linking the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, was opened for traffic coming from Srinagar to Jammu after nine hours of clearance operations, they said.
The operation along the Jawahar tunnel, and Qazigund and Banihal-Ramban stretches was launched around 5 am on Sunday, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ramban, Anita Sharma, told PTI.
It took almost nine hours for workers to clear the road for one-way traffic, she said.
In a major overnight rescue operation, over 700 stranded passengers were evacuated from both sides of the Jawahar tunnel, a police spokesman said, according to a PTI report.
The SSP said they were Jammu-bound commuters and were rescued from the Kashmir-side of the tunnel and the Verinag Zing area, where more than one-feet of snow had accumulated.
"In the night-long operation, police evacuated 700 stranded passengers from the Jawahar tunnel area. Passengers stranded at either side (of the tunnel) were evacuated," the spokesman said.
The evacuated people, including tourists, were accommodated in shelter sheds, religious places and sarais in Banihal's Nowgam and Gund areas, and in Qazigund, he said.
In addition, 1,000 civilians, who were stuck in other parts of the highway, were also provided food and shelter in Banihal by police and the civil administration, the spokesman said, according to PTI.
The SSP said stranded passengers who were evacuated from the Jawahar tunnel area and brought to Banihal late Saturday night, were allowed to move towards Jammu on Sunday.
Snow clearance operation are still underway at some areas of the highway, Sharma said.
The 270-km highway was closed for vehicular traffic Saturday evening after heavy snowfall in Qazigund-Jawahar tunnel sector coupled with landslides at Pantiyal, Ramsoo, Digdol and Battery Cheshma along the Banihal-Ramban stretch due to incessant rains.
The police spokesman said 28 more passengers, including two truck drivers, were rescued from Drass and Ganderbal along 434-km Srinagar-Leh national highway and shifted to safer places, according to PTI.
"Some stranded tourists were evacuated by police from the snow bound areas of Cheeni Wuder in Anantnag and Gulmarg in Baramulla districts," he said.
The officials said snow clearance operation have also started along the Mughal road, connecting the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu with south Kashmir's Shopian district.
They said about four-feet of snow had accumulated on the ground in Peer Ki Gali area over the past couple of days. Over 120 people, mostly truckers, were rescued after they got stranded in the high-altitude area on Saturday, the officials said.