Highway closed, flights grounded as snowfall cripples life in Kashmir

Flights, scheduled to arrive and depart at Srinagar airport, were grounded, leaving travelers stranded in anticipation of clearer skies, an official spokesman said.

Srinagar: Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir on Sunday due to heavy snowfall with the Valley remaining cut off from the rest of the world as Srinagar-Jammu National highway remained blocked and flights canceled.

The 264-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road link connecting Kashmir with other parts of the country, remained closed for the traffic due to snowfall and landslides at several places for the third consecutive day, an official spokesman said.

Flights, scheduled to arrive and depart at Srinagar airport, were grounded, leaving travelers stranded in anticipation of clearer skies, he said.

While it started snowing early in the morning in the higher reaches of Kashmir, the plains of the Valley also witnessed snowfall as the day progressed, officials said. Srinagar received six cms of snowfall while Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded 24 cms of snow in the last 24 hours.

Reports said that several main roads and almost all interior lanes are still clogged with snow even as the administration pressed men and machinery into service in the early hours of the day to clear snow from the roads. Authorities have advised motorists to drive carefully in view of the slippery roads.

The administration in Kashmir has issued an avalanche warning in view of the inclement weather. The deputy commissioners have been directed to advise people living in avalanche-prone areas not to venture out during the warning period to avoid loss of lives.

Due to night-long cloud cover, the minimum temperatures improved across Kashmir bringing in some respite from the severe cold wave. The minimum temperature in Srinagar was minus 0.7°C -- up from the previous night’s minus 1.7°C.

Gulmarg recorded minus 7°C against minus 10.6°C previous night, while in Pahalgam mercury settled at minus 3.5°C against minus 8.3°C previous night.

While people expressed excitement over the first major snowfall of the season on social networking sites, children and youth were seen playing ‘Sheen Jung’ in the city and elsewhere.

Tourists, who have arrived in huge numbers in Kashmir in recent days, were seen capturing the rare moment of snowfall on cameras and mobile phones as 'snow men' sprang up in many parts of the Valley.

As ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the 40-day harsh period of winter ended on January 29, Kashmir is presently in the middle of 20-day-long winter period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’ that ends on February 18 and is followed by a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold), which starts from February 19 to March 1.