Vaishnodevi shrine, Patnitop, Bhaderwah receive snowfall
MeT forecasts heavy snowfall in Kashmir, red alert sounded
Gopal Sharma/ Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Jan 7: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was again closed for vehicular traffic after fresh landslides in Ramban sector today while many areas across J&K including Trikuta hils of Mata Vaishnodevi and tourist resorts of Bhaderwah and Patnitop in Jammu region experienced season’s first snowfall.
As most parts of Kashmir received fresh snowfall today, the Weatherman has forecast very heavy snowfall and issued a Red alert for Kashmir with authorities saying that they are geared up to meet the challenge.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, told Excelsior that in view of the forecast of heavy snowfall, adequate measures have been taken for snow clearance and providing timely services to the people.
“We have established control rooms at every district for dealing with exigencies and essential services. Men and machinery for snow clearance have been placed across Kashmir in a state of readiness. The first preference will be given to hospitals, fire stations and other essential services so that they are able to provide timely services to people. Transformers have already been sent to forward and other areas so that damaged transformers are replaced immediately”, he said.
He said that pipes and other material have been kept ready in case of damage to water supply schemes. “We have sufficient stock of petrol, diesel and LPG besides ration”, he added.
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Kashmir received fresh snowfall today with intensity of the snow increasing in the evening. Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg and hills witnessed fresh snowfall since morning while it started snowing in the Valley in the evening.
The Meteorological Department has issued an advisory for Red alert till January 8 evening, saying that J&K would receive heavy to very heavy snowfall in the next two days following which there is possibility of gradual improvement in the weather conditions from January 9 morning.
The MeT in the advisory said that the surface and air traffic may get affected due to the prevalent weather conditions, adding that the landslides and avalanche may occur at vulnerable spots as well.
It appealed to people not to venture in avalanche prone areas and follow the traffic advisory. It also appealed to people to maintain proper ventilation of rooms.
While entire J&K region and Ladakh continued to reel under spine- chilling cold for the last couple of days, reports of heavy snowfall have been received not only from Gulmarg or other parts of Kashmir but also from Bhaderwah, Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch, Mahore, Gool- Gulabgarh, Ramban, Banihal, Latti, Dudu-Basantgarh, Bani- Sarthal and Budhal area of Jammu region. The fresh snowfall has led to closure of dozens of roads in these areas. Due to heavy snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area on Pir Panjal, the road has been closed for the movement of Oil/ LPG Tankers and other heavy vehicles.
A Traffic Police official said that due to fresh land/ mudslides and shooting stones at about a dozen of places between Nashri and Ramban and further upto Banihal, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed for traffic during forenoon. Some vehicles were earlier allowed to move to the Cafeteria and Nashri areas after clearance of slides.
The official said that no fresh movement of vehicles from Jammu or Srinagar side was allowed today while about 1000 stranded vehicles including most of them LMVs were earlier cleared. He said worst was the condition near Cafeteria Morh in Ramban where massive mud slide and boulders continued to flow down the mountain. He said over 3000 vehicles have been stranded at Nagrota Bypass, Jagti, Ban, Udhampur, Dhar Road, Mansar and Banihal areas. From Ramban and Chanderkote areas, most of the vehicles have been cleared, he added.
The highway reopened today morning for Light Motor Vehicles to ply on either side after the debris which had accumulated due to overnight landslides and shooting stones were cleared. Fresh landslides triggered at Cafeteraia Morh in Ramban sector following heavy rains closed the highway again, the official said.
The Mughal Road connecting Shopian district in south Kashmir with Rajouri-Poonch in Jammu division remained closed for vehicular traffic due to heavy accumulation of snow for the last about a fortnight. The road was closed on December 23 following heavy snowfall. Snow clearance operations could not be taken up due to the slippery road conditions. Many far-flung roads in Jammu region also remained cut off due to heavy snow and landslides.
Meanwhile, the power supply in many localities of Jammu City including Gandhi Nagar Extension, Nanak Nagar, parts of Shastri Nagar, Muthi, Chinore, Ban Talab, Janipur and many remote and hilly areas has been snapped. The people are facing lot of hardships due to failure of power supply. With this, the water supply has also been affected specially in snow bound areas.
Reports from Poonch said that afer heavy rain and blockade of drains in the market outside the Government Higher Secondary School, in Mendhar the pedestrians and traders are facing problems. The shopkeepers have accused the Rural Development Department and the administration that the drains that have been blocked and not cleared for the last several months. The rain water continued to flow like flooded Nallah amidst rain.
The people said during rainy season the water gets accumulated in the shops and School lanes due to which the students and others face difficulty. It also enters the surrounding Market and due to the blockage there are cesspools of water emitting foul smell and the spread of epidemic looms large.
Weather conditions in Kashmir continued to improve even as minimum temperature in most places of the valley stayed close to the freezing point.
At least 31 flights operated to and fro Srinagar airport before sudden change in weather led to cancellation of six flights in the evening.
“Due to sudden change in weather and snowfall in the evening we could operate only 31 flights today. 6 flights have been cancelled,” Director Srinagar Airport Kuldeep Singh, told Excelsior.
Yesterday, 35 flights operated while 6 others were cancelled. In last four days 91 flights to and fro the Srinagar airport were cancelled. While 42 flights were cancelled on Tuesday, as many as 37 could not operate on Wednesday. At Jammu Airport two flights were cancelled , one delayed and one rescheduled due to bad weather.
Meanwhile, authorities in Kashmir University postponed UG/PG/Professional exams scheduled on January 8.
“It is notified for the information of all the concerned that due to inclement weather conditions, all UG/PG/Professional exams of Kashmir University scheduled on 8-01-2022 stand postponed,” a statement said. Fresh dates for postponed papers will be issued separately, Prof Irshad Ahmad Nawchoo, Controller of Examinations said.
Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of 2.6 degrees Celsius, up from 0.3 degrees Celsius on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, a Met officials said.
Gulmarg, the famous skiing resort in north Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius compared to the previous night’s 3.5 degrees Celsius. Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius, slightly up from minus 0.8 degrees Celsius the previous night. Qazigund, the gateway town to the valley, recorded a minimum temperature of 0.4 degrees Celsius, while the nearby south Kashmir town of Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.2 degrees Celsius.
The winter capital Jammu today recorded a minimum temperature of 11.1 degree C, Katra town 9.4 degree C, Bhaderwah 2.3 degree C, Banihal 0.0 degree C while Batote 2.1 degree Celsius. Kargil town today recorded a minus 9.8 degree C while in Leh it was 0.4 degree C.
Reports from Reasi said that Mahore road remained blocked at Malai Nalla for over two hours but it was restored later during the day. However, Mahore-Gool and Mahore- Gulabgarh roads were closed due to heavy snowfall.
Trikuta hills of Mata Vaishnodevi today received fresh snowfall of the season. It was snowing at Bhawan and Patnitop when the last reports came. There was about 5-6 inch snowfall at Patnitop and nearly 2-3 inch at Vaishnodevi Bhawan this evening. The chopper service to Shrine from Katra base camp and Battery car service remained suspended today due to bad weather. The new yatra route was still closed.
Mandi-Loran and Sawjian Road, besides Bafliaz-Thannamandi road via Dera Gali were also closed. Two roads in Pancheri Tehsil were also closed due to land/mudslides. The road from Mantalai- Latti-Dudu-Basantgarh was also closed during this evening due to heavy snowfall. Dozens of roads in Doda-Bhaderwah, Gandoh-Bhallesa, Paddar, Chhatroo, Mugal Maidan, Banihal and Bani- Mechhedi-Lahai-Malhar area have also been closed. Entire region has been gripped in the cold wave and due to continuous rain people have stuck indoors. The normal life remained totally paralysed in the region.
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