Landslide Strands Vehicles In Poonch; NH-144 Reopens After 5 Hours

More than 200 small and heavy vehicles were stranded for several hours due to the road blockage in Poonch district on Saturday after intense weather conditions caused a landslide near Lasana, obstructing the vital NH-144.

BRO (Border Roads Organisation) teams, along with administration, rushed to the spot, and the road-clearing operation was undertaken on a war footing.

The BRO teams confirmed that after a 5-hour operation, the road was cleared and opened for general traffic, allowing the stranded vehicles to safely proceed toward their destinations.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Light rain over Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar created a calm and scenic view, while the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that cloudy skies with the possibility of rain or thunderstorms will continue in the city till tomorrow.

For Northwest India, the IMD has forecast fairly widespread rainfall in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, along with scattered rain over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The region is also likely to witness thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds during 13-18 June, with stronger wind activity expected in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the IMD morning bulletin, weather conditions indicate the advance of the southwest monsoon, which is currently progressing over parts of the central Arabian Sea and several regions including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar over the next few days.

On the other hand, earlier on Wednesday, massive forest fires broke out at multiple locations across Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, officials said.

The fires, which spread across several forest ranges, were being attributed to the prevailing heatwave conditions and a prolonged dry spell in the region.

Earlier, several forest fire incidents were reported across the Rajouri Forest Division amid an ongoing heatwave. Teams from the Forest Department, Forest Protection Force, Social Forestry Department and local volunteers were deployed in firefighting operations to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to dense forest areas. (ANI)