Current Matters
Jammu, September 23: The movement on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has improved a lot as huge traffic jams have disappeared and especially between Jammu and Chenani area.
The improvement has been witnessed for the last couple of months when no goods vehicle is being stopped between Jammu and Udhampur which used to be daily routine till start of Amarnath yatra.
Since the yatra has ended trucks and other vehicles of similar nature are no more stopped and they continue to ply on the NH44 without any hindrances. This has come after Jammu and Kashmir government had directed traffic police not to allow truckers to assemble between Jammu and Udhampur and these vehicles should proceed towards destinations without any delay.
Though this order had come in the beginning of this year but due to continuous rains, the highway used to get blocked and traffic police authorities were forced to stop the vehicles before Udhampur for their safety. The NH44 got damaged at several places and even approach road to Panthial tunnel also got damaged due to flash floods which stopped the traffic for a day or two. Many other places were also damaged but due to the efforts of National Highway authority of India (NHAI), district administration Ramban and constriction agency, these patches were brought back to their original shape and traffic was resumed.
At present traffic jams have become things of past and people are travelling on NH44 easily and the time travel between Jammu and Srinagar has reduced to six hours.
There are many people responsible for reaching to this level on the highway where till few months ago, people were unwillingly were travelling with a fear that they will have to get stuck into long queues and jams and there was no surety when will they reach to their destinations.
Firstly, one must praise the NHAI authorities and construction agency for completing construction of tunnel between Ramban and Banihal stretch, the most dangerous stretch on this national highway where movement has always remained a Herculean task and has remained accident prone area where thousands of people have lost their lives, completing widening of road at most of the places and bypassing Ramban town. At the second place is the efforts of deputy commissioner Ramban Musarrat-ul-Islam who has kept pressure on construction agency and NHAI authorities in throwing open several tunnels ahead of scheduled time, completing four laning of the road at crucial points and giving full support to construct the bypass flyover of Ramban town which has eased the traffic. Traffic police authorities and Ramban police have also played their part in ensuring movement of Amarnath yatra, smooth passage of goods vehicles, oil and gas tankers, commercial passenger vehicles and private vehicles as well during tough times.
Last but not the least are people living near the NH44 between Nashri to Banihal, who faced pollution dust, landslides and bad weather but ensured every kind of support to the authorities to go ahead.
But things are not yet over as at present the weather is supportive and there are no major landslides occurring on the highway and once the weather deteriorates and winter approaches, that will be the testing time for all of them to ensure smooth passage of traffic. During summers, Mughal road, connecting Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu region with Shopian district of Kashmir valley and Sinthan pass, connecting Kishtwar district of Jammu region with Anantnag district of Kashmir valley, remain opened and traffic of these districts ply from these routes. But once the winter sets in and these passes get blocked, the rush of traffic increased on NH44. Once rain and snow lashes J&K, even the air traffic also gets disturbed and the NH44 being the only land route connecting Kashmir valley with rest of the country during winters, the rush also increases.
It is a wide known fact that during winters traffic movement on NH44 remains a tough task and as the construction on NH44 is still in progress, things will not remain as they are. But there are expectations that as compared to previous years, it will be somehow easy and people will get relief from huge traffic jams.
