4 flood-hit rescued in Kathua; Srinagar highway remains shut

Jammu, July 10

Trapped in a flash flood in Kathua, four people were rescued on Monday. After receiving information, a team of the State Disaster Response Force, along with policemen, rescued them from the Ravi river, officials said. As many as 58 people were rescued from various flash flood-hit waterbodies in the district on Sunday.

The traffic remained suspended on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44) for the third consecutive day as the authorities were repairing a 60-metre strip on the Chamba-Seri stretch that was washed away amid incessant rain in Ramban. In an advisory, the J&K police stated the highway would be closed for traffic on Tuesday as well because the restoration work was expected to take time. It stated the traffic was likely to resume on Wednesday.

The administration has diverted the Valley-bound traffic via Mughal road. The NH-44 has been shut since Saturday due to which the Amarnath Yatra too remains suspended from Jammu.

Ramban Deputy Commissioner Mussarat Islam stated that the work on temporary bypass at Seri by the NHAI was in full swing.

At least 6,000 pilgrims are stranded at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu waiting to move towards the holy cave in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, electricity officials have appealed to the Jammu residents to use power judiciously as recent rains have severely impacted power generation in J&K. “A lot of silt has accumulated in hydropower plants. The Central sector power availability in the UT has been nosedived by 1,300 megawatts. The situation will be normalised in three or four days,” a spokesperson of the department said.

The bad weather has delayed the arrival of Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Ladakh. Scheduled to reach there on Monday, he will now land at the Leh airport on Tuesday. A spokesperson of the Leh airport said that due to bad weather, all scheduled operating airlines had cancelled their operations for Monday. “Visibility was around 3,000 metres which is below requirement for operations at the Leh airport,” he added.

6,000 pilgrims await Yatra resumption

At least 6,000 pilgrims are stranded at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu waiting to move towards the Amarnath shrine. They are awaiting resumption of the traffic movement on the Srinagar highway.

Dalai Lama’s visit delayed owing to bad weather

Set to reach Ladakh on Monday, Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama will land at the Leh airport on Tuesday as the poor visibility is not conducive for flight operations, a spokesperson for the airport stated.

Use power judiciously, officials urge people

Electricity officials appealed to the Jammu residents to use power judiciously as recent rains have severely impacted power generation in J&K. The situation will be normalised in 3-4 days, a spokesperson said.