Jammu, Jan 05 (KNO): With the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu highway and suspension of air service passengers stranded in the Jammu region are facing hardships with the elderly and children the worst sufferers.
The traffic movement on the Srinagar-Jammu highway remained closed on Tuesday given the heavy rain and snowfall that led to multiple landslides at different spots along the stretch.
Besides the motorable road, air services at Srinagar airport also got affected given less visibility.
Stranded passengers while talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that closure of the highway led to an abrupt hike in hotel fares, thus becoming hard for the people to stay put at one place for days together.
"We all came back from Nagrota as the road ahead was closed. Since then everyone is eagerly waiting for the response from officials regarding the reopening of the road," a stranded male passenger told KNO.
"It's not for the very first time that the traffic movement and air services have been shut simultaneously. It is happening for years, still, there are no concrete steps taken by the government to resolve the issue," the stranded passengers said.
A woman passenger travelling with her family including children to Kashmir valley said that the closure of the highway and air services is a major inconvenience, especially for children and women.
Another passenger said that Lieutenant Governor's administration must throw the new Banihal-Qazigund tunnel open for traffic to ease the sufferings of people who often get stuck on either side of the tunnel
"The main reason for highway closure is that Shaitan Nala and the tunnel in Qazigund witnesses heavy snowfall," he said.
Meanwhile, a senior administrative official in Ramban said that the National Highway 44 has been closed and people were advised to stay indoors in wake of the shooting stones at different spots to ensure the day remains incident-free.
Notably, the Jammu and Kashmir traffic department in a notification on Monday said that given the prevailing weather and road conditions NH44 shall remain closed for vehicular movement from either of the sides.
In a separate communique issued on Tuesday, the traffic department said that there will be no vehicular movement over the Srinagar-Jammu highway on Wednesday as well—(KNO)