Amid widespread damage to the roads and bridges infrastructure due to the recent cloudbursts, landslides, and torrential rains in the Jammu region, Director General of Border Roads (DGBR) Lt General Raghu Srinivasan on Thursday took an on-the-spot assessment of the major roads that have suffered damage.
The DGBR visited the two strategically important roads of Ramkot-Ranjit Sagar Dam and Basholi-Bani Road, which have suffered extensive damage. He visited the Pedu Nala location, where two bridges were displaced owing to heavy landslides. He oversaw the construction of diversions to restore the traffic.
He visited Bhoond at Km 47 on the Bani-Basholi road, where a significant portion of the road was completely washed away in the deluge, which has left a gap in the road. He inspected the formation cutting work in constructing an entirely new access alignment to restore the road communication.
During his visit, the DGBR interacted with Darshan Kumar, MLA of Basholi, and assured him of efforts by BRO to restore road communication at the earliest.
The DGBR complimented the personnel of Project Sampark in their efforts to restore road communication. He exhorted all personnel to continue the good work in the coming days.
Hundreds of roads, including the vital Jammu-Srinagar highway, Jammu-Pathankot highway, and Mughal Road, have been badly damaged due to flash floods. Several bridges and road stretches on the Jammu-Srinagar highway have been washed away. At least three major bridges on the Jammu-Pathankot highway were also destroyed.
The Bhaderwah-Chamba (Himachal Pradesh) road is shut for traffic due to landslides. Hundreds of roads in different districts of the region have been badly damaged. At least 847 roads in the three districts of Udhampur, Kathua, and Ramban were affected.
Meanwhile, five people were injured this morning after getting trapped in a landslide at the Rattle Hydro Electric Project (HEP) site at Drabshalla in Kishtwar.
Swift rescue operations were carried out jointly by the civil administration, the Police, the project authorities, and the Red Cross team, leading to the successful rescue of all five people. Three of the injured have been admitted to the government medical college in Doda for treatment. The other two injured are receiving treatment at the sub-division hospital Thathri.