Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Dec 30: While entire Northern region was reeling under severe cold after heavy snowfall in Kashmir and mountainous areas of Jammu region since yesterday, the train and air-traffic was disrupted in view of dense fog and poor visibility.
With a little improvement in weather condition today, the one way traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway plied normally. Many stranded vehicles on the either side of the highway and passengers at Jammu Bus Stand were cleared today. No movement of vehicles was allowed from Srinagar to Jammu today. The traffic on Jammu-Poonch and Jammu-Doda- Kishtwar highways plied smoothly while Mughal road and Rajouri-Bafliaz- Poonch road remained closed on the third consecutive day due to heavy snow at Dera ki Gali.
SP Anti-hijacking Jammu Ashok Sharma told the Excelsior that all the flights were delayed today and no flight could land at Jammu airport due to dense fog and poor visibility before 12 noon. He said the first flight which arrives here around 9 am could land safely only at around 12 noon while Go Air reached here 10 minutes later (12.10 pm). Though all the Srinagar bound flights which could not operate yesterday from Jammu, plied normally but were delayed by 2 to 3 hours.
Air Mantra flight between Chandigarh-Jammu-Chandigarh was cancelled today. He said over all 14 flights out of normal 17 flights could operate here today.
Director Airport Authority Jammu, N K Sharma told the Excelsior that though Cat- one facility for landing of aircrafts in fog and poor visibility conditions was in place at Jammu airport, the more advanced Cat-Two grade A,B, C facility was not available at this airport. He said this facility was available only in few airports in the country where air-traffic load was heavy.
He said at Jammu airport, the traffic load was not much and in view of this there was not such need at present. Only those flights which take off late from Delhi or other places due to dense fog are arriving late. Fog is not laying more impact on the incoming flights here. However, during dense fog conditions, the pilots find difficulty in landing here, he maintained.
The train traffic continued to be affected as several trains are reaching here late by 8 to 10 hours. Himgiri train was 19 hours late. It was scheduled to arrive here at around 12.25 pm on Saturday but it reached here around 7 am in the morning. Similarly, Pooja Express was 10 hours late from its scheduled arrival, Archna Express 10 hours, Malwa over 5 and half hours, Tata Moori more than six hours, Jhelum by 4-5 hours and so on. All the trains were rescheduled and heavy rush of passengers has been witnessed at the Jammu Railway Station. This process is going on for the last about one week in view of dense fog and poor visibility in entire northern region.
A spokesman from Meteorological Department said that there was little improvement in the weather condition today. He disclosed that the maximum temperature in Jammu was 11.8 degree Celsius while minimum was 7.0 degree Celsius. In Srinagar, the minimum temperature today was 2.0 degree Celsius while maximum 5.9 degree Celsius.
DIG Traffic, Jammu Shakeel Beig said that today vehicular traffic plied normally from Jammu to Srinagar. The stranded vehicles en-route and also at Jammu Bus Stand were also cleared today. He said there was slippery road conditions near Jawahar Tunnel and Banihal area but road remained through. He said if the weather remained fair, there will be down convoy from Srinagar to Jammu tomorrow. No vehicle will be allowed to move from Qazigund towards Jammu after 12 noon on Monday, he maintained.
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