Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Aug 8
National Highway corridors in Jammu and Kashmir suffered repeated landslides, cloudbursts and heavy-rain damage in 2025 and 2026, disrupting traffic and damaging road infrastructure, the federal government told parliament.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said incidents were recorded on National Highway-44 and NH-244, including several sections along the Udhampur-Ramban and Ramban-Banihal corridors.
On the Udhampur-Ramban section of NH-44, cloudbursts and heavy rainfall triggered landslides at Bali Nallah and Tharad in 2025, while muck and slush accumulated at Karol and Kowbagh, the ministry said.
In 2026, a major landslide near Dewal-Samroli at kilometre 79 blocked both carriageways and damaged a retaining wall.
Restoration and clearance work was subsequently completed, according to the ministry.
The Ramban-Banihal section was also affected.
A cloudburst in 2025 caused flash floods, while heavy slush and debris accumulated at Seri, muck entered Tunnel T-2 and a landslide occurred at Kela Mor.
Another landslide blocked both carriageways in 2026 before traffic was restored following clearance operations, the ministry said.
A landslide was also reported at Marog on NH-44 in 2025, while multiple landslides affected the Chenani-Sudhmahadev section of NH-244.
The disruptions have repeatedly affected the movement of passengers and goods on NH-44, the principal road connecting Kashmir to the rest of India.
The highway was closed for more than three weeks in April last year after persistent rainfall triggered shooting stones and rockfalls and washed away sections of the Banihal-Ramban road. It was again disrupted for much of August and September as monsoon rainfall caused landslides, mudslides, shooting stones, rockfalls and flash floods.
The closures had a direct impact on Kashmir’s horticulture industry, with fruit-laden trucks carrying apples to markets outside the region stranded on the highway. Growers reported that significant quantities of produce deteriorated in transit, causing losses worth millions of rupees.
The Centre separately reported one case of major structural failure on a National Highway project in J&K since 2014.
The failure occurred in 2022 and resulted in a penalty equivalent to 1% of the project cost and the blacklisting of the engineering, procurement and construction contractor under contractual provisions.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said action had been taken against contractors where deficiencies were established.
The government said highway projects included drainage systems and measures to protect hillsides, but extreme weather remained a significant challenge in mountainous areas.
It said no cases had been recorded in Jammu and Kashmir in the data submitted to parliament in which faulty national highway construction caused flooding of low-lying areas or agricultural fields.
Nationwide, three such cases were reported, involving stretches in Telangana and Maharashtra.
The government said it was strengthening highway resilience through improved slope stabilisation, mandatory quality assurance for rockfall mitigation, real-time landslide monitoring and better preparation of detailed project reports.
It also cited cooperation with the Geological Survey of India, the Defence Geo-informatics Research Establishment, the National Institute of Rock Mechanics and IIT Roorkee to improve highway safety in vulnerable terrain.
