Peeved over a spate of two-wheeler accidents on a slushy stretch of the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway (NH-154) at Jassur near Nurpur, local traders on Monday blocked traffic for nearly one-and-a-half hours, demanding immediate action against the NHAI’s four-lane construction company.

The protest erupted after a scooty skidded on the slippery road, leaving a three-year-old child critically injured. Enraged traders, supported by the local Beopar Mandal and the Jassur Gram Panchayat, placed barricades on the highway, disrupting vehicular movement. The blockade was lifted only after the intervention of the police and the civil administration.

According to local residents, the construction company had cleaned roadside drains in the Jassur market three days ago on the directions of the SDM, Nurpur. However, while transporting the excavated sludge, mixed with waste lubricants flushed from nearby automobile workshops, a portion spilled onto the highway. The sludge created an extremely slippery surface on the road.