Heavy snow cuts off Kashmir valley; highway, airport shut

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 2

The Srinagar-Jammu highway and the only civilian airport here were closed today as heavy snow fell across the Kashmir valley, cutting off the region from outside world.

The highway, which connects the two capital cities of the state and is the only surface link with the Kashmir valley, was shut for all traffic as landslides triggered at six places along the route, a state Traffic Department official said.

The official said the highway would also remain closed on Tuesday as clearance operation would take time.

The Srinagar-Jammu highway, which snakes through mountains and is prone to avalanches and landslides, acts as critical route for passenger traffic and supply of essential commodities to the Kashmir region.

The Valley’s only civilian airport was also closed due to inclement weather and all scheduled flights arriving and departing from here were cancelled, an airport official said. The intra-Kashmir rail service was also affected by the snowfall.

Heavy snowfall began across the region on Sunday evening and continued throughout the night and intermittently through the day today. The snowfall was received in all major towns and resorts of the region, including the city here. The snowfall also caused power shutdown in several areas.

It is the most severe snowfall of the ongoing winter in the plains of the Kashmir valley and was caused by a fresh western disturbance, which began affecting the region from Saturday last week.

At least 15 structures, including 14 houses were damaged in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district when an avalanche swept through Sardab village. A police spokesman said no loss of life was reported as the villagers had already shifted to safer locations.

The fresh snowfall led to cold conditions in the region and sharply brought down the day temperature. The maximum temperature was recorded at 4.9° C in Srinagar city on Sunday.

The state Meteorological Department said moderate to heavy snow and rainfall would occur at most places of the Kashmir and Jammu division in the next 24 hours ending Tuesday evening. It said the moderate to heavy snow and rain would also fall at many places in the Ladakh region.

The department said there were chances of decrease in precipitation from Tuesday onwards.

Batote (Ramban): The 300-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed today due to the landslides at several places and accumulation of snow on road triggered by the incessant rainfall and snowfall since Saturday morning. The Batote-Kishtwar stretch of the National Highway No 244 was also closed due to the landsides at several places.

The traffic police authorities had announced the suspension of one-way traffic from Jammu to Srinagar scheduled for today. According to the sources, the landslides had occurred at Nashri (Batote), Maggerkote, Panthial, Gangru, Hingni, Seri, Khooni Nallah in Ramban district and at Kheri in Udhampur and heavy snowfall near the Jawahar Tunnel since last night.

About 2 feet and 4 inches of snow had accumulated at the Jawahar Tunnel and Patnitop till the filing of the report on Monday afternoon.

According to the OC, GREF, SK Meena, the Beacon men with heavy machineries had been busy in clearing the landslides at all the places on the National Highway 44 but the sporadic falling stones and the incessant rain had been hampering the road-clearing operation. The landslide at Kheri in Udhampur is a more serious matter of concern.

Meanwhile, the landslides at Koda Pani, near Doda, Phagu Mada and Thathri have closed the Batote-Kishtwar road.