Fresh snowfall disrupts road, air traffic in Valley, NH remains shut
WEATHER WOES More than 500 passenger vehicles stranded between Banihal and Ramban managed to reach Srinagar after J&K government authorities launched the snow-clearing operation on a massive scale
SRINAGAR/ JAMMU: Continuing for the second consecutive day, fresh snowfall in Kashmir disrupted road and air traffic on Saturday.
As per officials, the 270-km Jammu-srinagar national highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, remained closed for vehicular movement.
“As a preventive measure, the traffic on the highway was suspended on around 11am on Saturday after fresh snowfall across Jawahar Tunnel. We had to stop the traffic at Ramban, Chanderkote and Banihal,” deputy superintendent of police, Traffic, Pardeep Singh Sen said.
However, over 500 passenger vehicles which were left stranded between Banihal and Ramban were allowed to move towards Srinagar later in the day after authorities pressed men and machines to clear the snow.
Almost all the passenger vehicles were cleared, while efforts were on to clear the heavy vehicles carrying essential supplies to the valley including oil tankers, the officer said.
No fresh vehicle will be allowed to ply on the highway till Sunday in view of inclement weather conditions, he said, adding that only stranded vehicles will be allowed to move.
“We will take a call on opening the link only after improvement in weather condition,’’ the official said, adding that necessary arrangements have been made for the safety of the passengers.
FLIGHT OPS SUSPENDED
The snowfall led to decrease in visibility, resulting in disruption of flight operations at the Srinagar airport.
“So far three flights have been cancelled while few other were delayed because of low visibility due to continuous snowfall,” an official said.
The director of the AAI at Jammu Airport, DK Gautam informed that there was no impact on the flights operating from Jammu to other parts of the country, except Srinagar.
Meanwhile, the operations at Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine were conducted smoothly with no adverse impact on the pilgrimage owing to fresh snow in other regions.
“There was no fresh snowfall on Trikuta Hills. The pilgrimage goes on smoothly, including helicopter and cable care services. We recorded a footfall of 14,000 pilgrims,” said shrine board CEO Simrandeep Singh.
MODERATE SNOWFALL AND RAIN FORECAST
The intensity of snow was less compared to last week when road and air traffic was suspended in Kashmir.
Meteorology department director Sonum Lotus said that light snow occurred at most places of the Valley and few scattered places of hilly areas of Jammu and Ladakh regions.
“Weather will remain overcast to cloudy with possibility of light snow in some areas of Kashmir in the next 24 hours. There will be an overall improvement in weather from Sunday evening,” he said.
AVALANCHE WARNING ISSUED
Meanwhile, avalanches warning has been issued for Poonch, Ramban, Kishtwar, Baramulla, Ganderbal and Bandipore districts and people have been asked to remain cautious.
Srinagar recorded -0.8 °C, Pahalgam -0.9°C and Gulmarg -2.4 as the minimum temperatures on Saturday.leh town recorded -11.9 °C, Kargil -16.8°C and Drass -10.3°C as the night’s lowest temperatures.
Jammu city recorded 8.5 , Katra 6.6, Batote 1.8, Bannihal 0.7 and Bhaderwah 0.6 °C as the minimum temperatures.
Valley had witnessed intense cold in second half of December with night temperatures dropping to a ten year low of minus 7.7 degree Celsius in capital Srinagar on December 28 freezing the surfaces of Dal and Nigeen lakes.
Srinagar received season’s first snowfall on November 3, setting the tone for wet weather early winter this season. This was after nine years that the city draped in white in November.
Kashmir also experienced mild rains and snow in first half of December while rest of the month remained dry. The intense winter (Chillai Kalan) starts in the valley from December 21 and lasts for 40 day period followed by Chillai Khurd (20 days which are less intense) and Chillai Bache (10 days of mild cold).