Power supply partially restored
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 23: While the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway continued to be blocked for the fourth consecutive day in view of heavy rain, landslides and snowfall between Nashri and Jawahar Tunnel, traffic on Batote-Doda-Kishtwar road was restored this afternoon whereas, many areas of Chenab region and other snow bound pockets were still under darkness.
With improvement in weather condition today, the people in Jammu region heaved a sigh of relief as sunny day further improved day’s temperature. The restoration work on the highway from Nashri to south of Jawahar Tunnel (JT) and also from Qazigund to North of Jawahar Tunnel commenced this morning . Both the northern tubes of the JT which had been closed on Tuesday morning with avalanche were fully cleared today. While the heavy snow from Batote-Patnitop and Banihal area was cleared today, Bhaderwah town was still under 2-3 feet snow.
Click here to watch video
Inspector Gen-eral Police (Traff-ic), J&K Alok Kumar, when contacted, said that today road clearance work from both the sides of Jawahar Tunnel started on war footing. He said Nashri landslide was cleared but between Ramban and Banihal there were landslides at many places like Gangroo, Battery Chashma, Anokhi Fall, Panthyal etc.
He said due to highway widening activity and loose soil/ boulders were frequently falling on the highway and it has created lot of obstacles for the road clearance teams. He, however, claimed that the highway for up convoy (to Kashmir) will be cleared by tomorrow. The first priority will be to clear stranded vehicles, Kumar added.
Replying to a question, the IG Traffic said traffic on Batote-Doda-Kishtwar highway was restored this afternoon. He said traffic to Bhaderwah town will also be restored by tomorrow. But most of the link roads in entire Chenab belt and many others snow bound pockets were still cut off. He said the authorities were engaged in roads clearance task.
Chief Engineer, PDD (EM&RE) Jammu, Sudhir Gupta when contacted said that the electric tower and cables which were damaged due to fall of a tree in Patnitop area Monday night, were repaired at around 9 pm last night and the power supply to Kishtwar and Doda towns was restored. He said power supply to Batote and Ramban towns was also restored today while, Bhaderwah town was still cut off.
He added that other snow bound areas of these districts including Banihal were still cut off and the power will be restored to most of these areas within next 24 hours. He said as per reports received from the concerned Executive Engineers in Jammu region, about 250 transformers have been damaged due to snowfall and rain during past three days. They all will be replaced or repaired within next couple of days, Gupta maintained.
Reports from Doda said the weather improved after heavy snowfall in Bhaderwah and higher reaches of entire Chenab belt, which threw life out of gear in the region. All the communication links and electricity supply in most of the areas remained snapped for three consecutive days.
Heavy snowfall since Sunday night has forced authorities to close Bhadarwah-Basohli highway and Bhadarwah-Chamba road besides many far flung areas in the region. There is almost breakdown of electricity in majority of the areas and people are facing drinking water scarcity as well. From 2 to 5 feet snow was recorded in different areas of Bhaderwah valley and Bhalessa in district Doda as Chattar Gala on Bhaderwah-Basohli highway and Padri Gali on Bhaderwah-Chamba inter-state road recorded 5 feet snow, while Bhaderwah town received 2 feet of snow, Kota Top 2.5 feet, Dhadhkai 2.5 feet and Khanni Top 3 feet.
After the lapse of three years, Doda town also received 3 inches of snowfall followed by 4 inches of snow in Kishtwar town. People of the area have appealed to the administration to restore the power supply and all link roads beside roads leading to Tourist destinations at the earliest.
Reports from Kathua said that land link to Bani town was restored this afternoon, while power supply to most of the areas including Bani, Loang, Sarthal, Duggan, Lohai Malhar, Katli and Macchedi areas could not be restored. There was heavy snow in these areas and many electric poles and transformers have been damaged there.
Traffic on Udhampur-Ramnagar road was restored this morning, while Ramnagar-Majouri-Basantgarh and Dudu-Latti roads were stilled closed due to heavy snowfall. Reasi -Mahore and Chassana roads in Reasi were also restored but Mahore-Gool, Rajouri-Dera Gali-Bafliaz Surankorte and Mandi Saujian roads were closed in Rajouri and Poonch. Many link roads in Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar also remained closed. The power supply to many snow bound areas of Reasi, Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch could not be restored.
SP Airport Jammu, Mohd Aslam said that two Air India flights were cancelled at Jammu airport today while a few morning flights were delayed. He said with the improvement in weather, most of the flights operated normally.
Meanwhile, huge rush of Kashmir bound stranded passengers has been witnessed at Jammu Bus Stand. Some poor people were forced to spend night under cold conditions along with their children at Jammu Bus Stand. More than 6000 trucks and load carriers were said to have been stranded at Nagrota Jammu Bypass besides Udhampur, Dhar Road, Manwal and Udhampur Bypass Road for the last four days. Over 2000 vehicles were also stranded on north side of the Jawahar Tunnel. The stranded vehicles will be cleared first and then Kashmir bound traffic will be restored tomorrow, an official spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a fresh weather warning has been issued for the next 24 hours in avalanche prone areas in Kashmir division, where rain and snow has been predicted till Friday.
An official spokesperson said that Divisional Commissioner Baseer Ahmad Khan has issued fresh avalanche warning for nine avalanche prone districts of Kashmir division on Wednesday.
“The warning has been issued for the avalanche prone areas of district Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kargil and Leh”, he said.
He said the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has asked the Deputy Commissioners of all these districts to advise the people living in avalanche prone areas not to venture out to avoid the loss of lives.
He has also directed the concerned DCs to take all the precautionary measures and to keep the SDRF, police and para-medical staff with ambulances in readiness to avert any untoward incident.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
