Landslides Hits Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, Under-Construction Tunnel Damaged

An under-construction tunnel was damaged due to landslide in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district, which also affected traffic movement briefly. No casualties were reported in the incident. The landslide struck the 270-km highway near Cafeteria Morh around 1 am, blocking the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, locals officials were quoted as saying by news agency PTI. The tunnel is being constructed to bypass a busy stretch on the Jammu-Srinagar highway and is expected to be completed by next year.

Officials said the mouth of the under-construction tunnel was blocked by the debris.

As soon as the landslide was reported, the agency working on the four-lane highway project immediately pressed men and machines and managed to clear the road of the major debris.

The traffic movement was stopped since rocks kept falling from a small hillock intermittently.

No fresh traffic was allowed either from Jammu or Srinagar this morning, the officials said, adding the traffic will be restored once the stranded vehicles are cleared.

In April, soldiers of the Indian Army and some civilians had a narrow escape after shooting stones came down outside a tunnel along Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

Some vehicle were also damaged after being hit by rocks rolling down from a mountain above T5 tunnel that was recently opened in Ramban area.

The shooting stones blocked the highway for several hours.

In February, several people were stranded on the National Highway after multiple landslides damaged parts of the road.

The four-lane highway to provide all-weather connectivity to Kashmir is being constructed for the last several years. But in many places, haphazard use of bulldozers to cut mountains has caused havoc.