Flights resume at Srinagar airport after four days

With the improvement in weather conditions, flight operations resumed at Srinagar airport after four days on Thursday much to the relief of hundreds of stranded passengers.

“All facilities have been restored and flight operations have resumed after a heavy snowfall, it is the result of many agencies working proactively amid extreme weather,” an official at the airport said.

The flight operation at Srinagar airport, the only civilian airport in Kashmir, had remained disrupted for the last four days due to heavy snowfall and poor visibility.

However, the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road link between Kashmir and the rest of the country, remained closed for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday due to accumulation of snow, landslides, and shooting stones at several places on the 270-km long highway.

A traffic police official said that several thousand vehicles are stranded on the highway for the past five days. Once the highway is put through, only stranded vehicles will be allowed to move towards their respective destinations, he said.

Three days of heavy snowfall in Kashmir left property worth lakhs of rupees damaged and two persons, including a CRPF sub-inspector, dead. In the Valley, as the weather improved after four days, authorities continued their efforts on Thursday to restore road connectivity, water, and electricity supply.

The heavy snowfall has damaged power infrastructure, besides closing most of the roads. According to Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited, the full restoration of power supply in Kashmir will take another two days as many areas still continue to remain inaccessible.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole has directed the concerned departments to work throughout day and night and press all men and machinery on the job to ensure snow clearance and early restoration of essential services in all areas.

As per the latest MeT forecast, there was no prediction of “any major snowfall in Kashmir and weather will remain mainly dry till January 14.” Jammu and Kashmir Disaster Management Authority (DMA) on Wednesday issued a high, medium, and low-level avalanche warning for higher reaches of avalanche-prone areas of the union territory.