Jammu, Oct 7 (PTI) A high-level official team led by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on Friday took first hand appraisal of the progress of the four-lanning of Banihal-Nashri stretch of Jammu-Srinagar national highway, an official spokesman said. The team, which also included additional chief secretary Home R K Goyal and Director General of Police (DGP), reviewed status of traffic movement on the 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, and called for smooth passage of fruit-laden trucks from Kashmir to outside markets, the spokesman said. He said the team visited vulnerable spots in Ramban district and directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to immediately clear the debris lying at various locations alongside the highway on Banihal--Nashri stretch to facilitate smooth double-lane vehicular traffic movement, besides developing truck holding areas. The Chief Secretary issued directions for constituting a six-member committee to be headed by the Principal Secretary, Public Works (Roads and Buildings) department to submit a plan to regulate the traffic movement smoothly on the highway between Banihal-Nashri stretch. Directing the NHAI to expedite the pace of the widening work, the Chief Secretary asked the agency to ensure macadamization of the existing highway for smooth movement of traffic. He also directed the NHAI to enhance manpower and machinery at all the vulnerable slide-prone areas for immediate clearance of landslides and debris from road, besides filling of potholes and metalling of damaged road to maintain hassle free traffic movement, the spokesman said. He enjoined upon the construction companies to install CCTV on the vulnerable stretches for round the clock monitoring besides fair assessment of the time for which vehicles remain stranded. He asked them to declare these stretches no stopping zones and ensure that no road side parking is resorted to. Mehta asked them to explore the possibility of following the 12-hour cycle for the truckers to move from opposite directions instead of alternate days currently adhered to. PTI TAS CK