VALLEY CUT OFF AFTER HEAVY SNOW
Air traffic to Kashmir suspended; several roads in Himachal cut off; power outage in many places
Girls walk on a snowcovered footbridge in Srinagar on Monday. The JammuSrinagar national highway was closed after heavy snowfall.
Fresh snowfall was recorded at many areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on Monday.
The snow, however, has snapped Kashmir’s links with the rest of the country as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway has been closed due to the accumulation of snow around Jawahar Tunnel in the Qazigund area.
“Due to slippery road conditions and fresh snowfall at the Jawahar tunnel and other areas, the highway has been closed,” a senior traffic department official said.
Air traffic to Kashmir has also been suspended due to bad weather.
“All flights for Monday were cancelled,” said Sharad Kumar, director, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Srinagar.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature across the Valley stayed around the freezing point, except for Gulmarg where the mercury settled at minus 4.6 degrees Celsius.
SNOW CHEERS REVELLERS IN HP
The second major spell of snow in Shimla has cheered up the tourists as well as hoteliers in Himachal.
The capital town experienced intermittent spell of rain and snow on Monday.
“The surrounding areas are likely to witness more snowfall in the next 12 hours,” said local MeT office director Manmohan Singh.
“After seeing the weather forecast, I headed to Shimla to witness a snowfall,” a visitor from Punjab’s Faridkot said.
NORMAL LIFE HIT
However, several main and lateral roads have been blocked besides a power outage at many parts of the state.