M A I N   N E W S

Big chill returns to valley
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 12
Normal life was adversely affected due to continued snowfall across the valley, with heavy snow in the upper reaches and the people waking up to a thick blanket of snow this morning.

This has been so far the heaviest snowfall in the valley at the fag-end of the winter while the major portion of the winter this year passed off without any snowfall and downpour. Heavy rains and snowfall in early December last year in the beginning of this winter had caused blockade of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. Heavy snowfall was reported from the upper reaches of Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonmarg.

The 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway was blocked due to the heavy rains and snowfall in the region since Sunday morning. The highway, only surface link to rest of the country, which remained blocked due to landslides at Panthal between Banihal and Ramban, about 120 km from here, for more than a week recently, was again blocked yesterday.

According to traffic police officials, the highway was blocked at Panthal due to landslides and heavy snowfall at the Jawahar Tunnel, Banihal, since yesterday. More than 5 feet of snow had accumulated at the Jawahar Tunnel by this afternoon, police officials said.

Over 1,000 vehicles were stranded on the highway at Banihal, which included over 100 truckloads of essential commodities to the valley. No traffic was allowed from here and Jammu today. Efforts were on to clear the landslides and snowfall but the continued downpour disrupted the restoration work in the Panthal and Banihal areas.

Heavy snowfall across the valley disrupted movement of traffic on various routes and also affected power and water supplies. One person was reportedly injured and two vehicles were damaged in an accident caused due to collision at Pampore, about 15 km from here, on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. Several other vehicles were damaged due to the slippery conditions leading to collisions on various city routes.