Over 2,000 trucks, mostly carrying essential supplies, and 500 passenger vehicles are stranded.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway is closed for the fifth day due to multiple landslides at Panthal and Ramban, triggered by heavy rains and snow, cutting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country. Over 2,000 trucks, mostly carrying essential supplies, and 500 passenger vehicles are stranded.
In one of the many trucks stranded are Naeema and her family of seven at Nagrota, which is 25 kilometres from Jammu. They have been stuck for five days without food or money. They bought a stove and utensils from a nearby marketplace and everyday, they set off in search for of vegetables, rice and kerosene. The family, which was headed to Srinagar from Ajmer, is running short on resources. It is a desperate situation and their three-year old-son is running high fever. But they are unable to buy medicines.
"I told the cops that my son is unwell. I pleaded with them to let me go ahead. But we are stuck and have been stopped here for five days now", said Naeema.
"We are facing lot of problems. Yesterday, we went to a hotel and asked them to give us water. But we were told there is no water. There is no bathroom. We don't have vegetables and other food materials", said her husband Bilal Ahmed.
It is not just Naeema's family camping on the highway. Hundreds of frustrated people are stuck and are facing great hardships.
The police said that traffic will run smoothly once the road is cleared.
"Light vehicles are moving. When the road is cleared fully then the trucks can be allowed to move", said Pardeep, a traffic policeman.
Last month, Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest snowfall in the last 10 years, which paralysed the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. The snowfall, coupled with incessant rains caused power outage for days.