Srinagar-Jammu highway blocked for four hours
The Jammu-Srinagar National highway was closed for nearly four hours on Friday owing to a stone slide in Ramban while intermittent rains lashed parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Officials said that the 270-km highway (NH-44) was closed at around 3.25 pm when stones slid down the mountains at Khooni Nallah, but was re-opened at around 7 pm after the road was cleared. and the traffic was resumed.
“NH-44 blocked due to stone slides at Khooni Nallah. People are advised to avoid the journey on the highway till the road is clear,” the traffic police had said in an update on ‘X’.
The meteorological centre in Srinagar said that there was intermittent rains in many areas of the union territory, particularly on Thursday evening in the Jammu division and also on Friday afternoon in parts of Kashmir valley.
The MeT had predicted light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning at many places accompanied by hailstorms and gusty winds at some places of Shopian, Kulgam, Uri, Baramulla and hilly regions of Jammu on Friday afternoon.
“It has been raining lightly in the ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir since 2 pm,” said Manzoor Ahmad, a cab driver ferrying a group of tourists in Gulmarg, at 6.30 pm.
Meanwhile, the MeT has predicted that the coming week will witness intermittent, on and off, rains owing to two western disturbances(WD) or moisture-laden winds from the Mediterranean.
Director MeT, Mukhtar Ahmad had said Friday night would again witness light to moderate rain or light snow over a few higher reaches with thunder, hailstorms and gusty winds at a few places.
Ahmad said that April 13 and 14 will witness more rains owing to the WD. “The weather in the coming two days will be generally cloudy with light to moderate rain (snow over higher reaches) at many places with heavy rain, thunder, lightning, hailstorm and gusty winds at isolated places,” he said.
April 15, 16, 17 and 18 will witness some light rain and snow over higher reaches at a few places.
Another feeble WD will hit the region on April 19 and 20 which will bring partly cloudy weather with light rain/snow at many places.
He advised farmers to suspend farm operations till April 15 in the first instance.
“There is a possibility of temporary disruption of surface transportation over a few higher reaches during April 13 and 14. There can also be temporary water logging in a few low-lying areas while the possibility of landslides/mudslides and shooting stones can’t be ruled out,” he said.
Rashtrapati Niwas (formerly known as the president summer retreat), located in Chharabra village about 9.8 kilometres from the main town has emerged as a major tourist attraction since the eight rooms of its ground floor were thrown open to the public last April.
The 174-year-old building, built largely in the English style, has an orchard and sprawling green lawns and was opened to the public by President Droupadi Murmu during her visit to Shimla last year. Visitors can take a tour of the building (tickets are priced at ₹50 for Indians and ₹250 for foreigners) except on Mondays, government holidays, and when the president is visiting.
Thus far, more than 50,000 people have visited the complex, with footfall peaking at 650 people on April 7.
The building was originally constructed by the then Medical Superintendent of Simla (earlier name) whose name is not known. It was taken on lease from Raja of Koti by Lord William Hay. The local population used to call it “Larty Sahib Ki Kothi”, i.e. house of Larty, as Lord William Hay was referred to by locals. The lease moved to Sir William Mansfield, Commander-in-Chief, and then By Sir Edward Buck in 1881. In 1896, the Raja of Koti retook possession of the estate and consigned to the government on permanent lease by Raja of Koti. The Earl of Elgin was the first Viceroy of India to use the building as a Viceregal residence. Lord Elgin secured its use for future viceroys and spent many of his weekends there.
In 2017, former President Ram Nath Kovind , then governor of Bihar, was turned back from the gates of the building because he did not have permission from Rashtrapati Bhawan to visit it (his visit was unplanned). Less than a month later, he was named the Presidential candidate. In 2018, he visited Shimla and stayed at the very building.
“We never expected the building to have the kind of footfall it is witnessing,” said the manager of the building Sanju Dogra. The building’s eight rooms on the ground floor have been opened to the public.
“About 20% of the tourists are locals while 80 % are outsiders,” he added. Apart from an orchard trail, the complex also has a 1.5-km long forest trail from one of its gates to a helipad. Dogra said that Rashtrapati Niwas plans to organize cultural events on the premises every month. The retreat will be closed for general public during the Shimla visit of President Droupadi Murmu from April 30 to May 5.