SRINAGAR, FEBRUARY 26: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today held a virtual meeting to take stock of the traffic movement on NH-44 (Srinagar-Jammu National Highway) here. The meeting was attended by the Additional Chief Secretary, Home; IG Traffic; Deputy Commissioner, Ramban; SSP, Traffic, NH; SP Ramban and the representatives from NHAI. The Chief Secretary took stock of the pace of restoration of double lanning of the damaged portions of the road near Cafeteria Morh and Mehar. He directed the Traffic Department augment to augment their personnel on the portions of the highway damaged by the adverse weather recently. He reiterated that the travel time taken by LMVs should be restricted around 6-7 hours to reach from one city to another. Dr Mehta also stressed on putting in place the robust communication and information mechanism by Traffic Police so as to regulate HMVs traffic at critical points like Qazigund- Banihal, Banihal market, Ramban, Sherbibi, Panthayal, Mehar etc. He asked the authorities to ensure that the HMVs are allowed to ply on the road so that the down-side convoy do not meet the opposite one at critical junctions. He stressed on enforcing lane discipline in the critical stretches between Ramban and Banihal by penalizing the violators unforgivably. Dr Mehta also took stock of the construction works on different projects presently under progress. He exhorted upon them to make all out efforts to make the T5 tunnel on Panthiyal stretch of the highway functional by 15th of March, Jaiswal Bridge by 31st March, and double lane of Ramban Flyover and Banihal Bye-pass by 15th of April this year. He advised them to accelerate the pace of work to meet these deadlines without any fail. Moreover District Administration Ramban was instructed to ensure deployment of adequate manpower and traffic management team at Banihal and Ramban market to ensure no roadside parking of vehicles and unauthorized occupation of carriageway. It was said that the public transporters should also be persuaded not to park their vehicles on the NH for getting boarding of passengers but to use earmarked places only for this purpose to evade chances of traffic snarls there. Further it was made out that the timelines given during the last meeting for clearance of muck from Cafteria Morh and Mehar, blacktopping of damaged portions on NH between Banihal and Ramban, and widening of Ramsoo- Rampari-Sherbibi stretch of the road for the ease of commuters on this vital link between the two capital cities of the UT.
