Jammu-Srinagar highway closed for vehicular traffic
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Jan, 2023 12:07 PM
Jammu, Jan 25 (IANS) After opening briefly on Wednesday, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has again closed for vehicular traffic due to shooting stones and landslides at several places, officials said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Traffic police has further advised people not to travel on the highway between Nashiri and Banihal stretch until Bharat Jodo Yatra passes.
"Jammu Srinagar NH blocked due to shooting stones/landslides/mudslides at several places between Charkote and Banihal," Jammu and Kashmir Traffic police said.
The highway is the lifeline of the Kashmir Valley and the main road link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country.
Kashmir-bound trucks laden with essential supplies and other vehicles pass through the highway. Also, fruit-carrying trucks from Kashmir head for rest of the country through this road.
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While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.