No respite from chaotic traffic on Sgr-Jmu highway

People travelling on the Srinagar-Jammu highway are having a tough time as there is no respite in traffic chaos on the 300-kilometer road due to chronic jams.
Reports said that several hundred trucks are stranded for last two days right from Jammu up to Jawahar Tunnel disrupting the movement of traffic on the road.
The travelers face tough time after being caught in the jams for hours together without food and water. Reports said that the passengers who started journey on Thursday from Srinagar were still stranded in jams till Friday evening.
“We started our journey from Srinagar on Thursday morning but due to disruptions and jams we have just reached Batote,” a traveler, Zahoor Ahmed, told Greater Kashmir over phone.
He said that it took them 24 hours to cover the distance between Srinagar to Batote, including whole night to cover the Banhial – Ramban stretch.
The commuters also blamed the absence of traffic authorities on the highway for the chaos.
“The truck drivers create jams by jumping the lane but no traffic official is visible on the road anywhere,” said Zahoor.
Despite repeated calls, no traffic official could be contacted for comments.
However, officials at Traffic Control Room blame breakdown of heavy vehicles and movement of nomads for the traffic jams.
“Some trucks have developed technical snag at various places along the road that have caused disruption in smooth movement of traffic,” Traffic Control Room officials said, adding that the nomads moving with livestock from upper reaches to the plains was also creating problems.