Suhail Dar
Several truck drivers on Wednesday, urged the authorities for rapid men and machinery work on a crack that was spotted on the ”macadamized road” of a flyover near the recently opened Banihal-Qazigund tunnel along the 270-km-long Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Monday, prompting diversion of traffic for repairs.
A truck driver, Bashir Ahmad, said that the newly constructed Qazigund-Banihal tunnel has facilitated connectivity between Kashmir and Jammu and solved the problem of road closures due to snowfall and landslides in winters. It has also saved journey time and fuel for drivers, he said.
This project brought immense relief to the driver sector after the traffic was allowed to ply through the tunnel. But due to a minor crack on the flyover near the Qazigund-Banihal tunnel, the authorities diverged both the traffic on a single stretch. This leads to the heavy traffic Jam and drivers face difficulties in turning their Vehicles to reach Banihal, which probably adds three hours to the journey. He urged the authorities to repair the crack within the stipulated time so that the drivers can ply the journey without difficulties.
Another diver, Sameer Ahmad, had a similar demand from the authorities – to pressmen and machinery to work out the crack on flyover rapidly. He said, “It takes 3-4 hours for us to complete the journey of 1 hour. The traffic jam due to the divergence halts our journey sometimes and we can’t reach our destinations on time.”
“Now we are forced to ply on the old road to save our time and fuel,” he added.
The officials said that the workers had noticed the crack on the stretch between the toll plaza in Banihal and the tunnel early Monday, following which traffic coming from Kashmir towards Jammu was immediately diverted.
Quoting PTI an official of the Navyug construction company said, “A small patch of the flyover has developed a minor crack which is being taken care of to ensure early restoration of traffic movement.” He said that it was a minor issue as all the pillars of the flyover were safe.
The 8.5 kilometers long Banihal-Qazigund tunnel, built at a cost of Rs 2,100 crore, was opened for traffic early this month.