Gopal Sharma/
Mir Farhat
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Jan 1: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the second consecutive day today due to heavy snowfall while over 1600 vehicles have been stranded on south side of the Jawahar Tunnel whereas, power supply to many snow bound areas of Jammu region and many parts of entire Kashmir has been snapped as a large number of poles and cables were broken or damaged.
A large number of passengers have been stranded on the highway and also in Jammu, Udhampur, Ramban, Batote, and other places while Jammu bus stand has been over crowded with the hapless stranded passengers. The GREF authorities cleared Jammu-Poonch highway after clearing snow from Bhimber Gali and Jarran Wali Gali area this afternoon. A large number of stranded vehicles and passengers have been cleared.
Many Jammu bound passenger vehicles including buses which were stopped at Potha and Surankote yesterday, were cleared by the Traffic Police authorities this evening. Traffic on Mendhar-Rajouri-Jammu road has also been restored but over 50 Poonch bound trucks/ load carriers were still stranded in BG and Gambhir area.
Majority of the areas in Kashmir were still under dark as snow damaged the local transmission and distribution lines. The train services between Baramulla and Banihal also remained disrupted on the second consecutive day. A large number of passengers remained stranded. At least 24 members of four families were rescued and shifted to safer places from avalanche prone area in Kulgam area of Kashmir.
The Army and GREF authorities jointly launched massive operation to clear Jammu-Poonch highway with the improvement in weather today and managed to open road for one way traffic from BG and Jarranwali Gali up to Surankote. Mughal road and Surankote- Bufliaz-Thanamandi-Rajouri, Poonch-Mandi -Loran roads were still closed.
The Jammu-Srinagar highway in Patnitop area was partially cleared this afternoon but only few vehicles were allowed and traffic was again stopped due to slippery conditions. The Traffic Police authorities did not allow the movement of vehicles from Qazigund side and also from Ramban and Udhampur ahead due to slippery conditions and heavy snowfall in Banihal and Jawahar Tunnel area of Pir Panjal Range.
Entire Ramban district including Banihal, Chanderkote, Gool, Ramsoo area has been plunged into darkness. Bhaderwah, Kishtwar and many parts of Doda district, Poonch district and Thanamandi, Budhal areas of Kishtwar, Mahore Sub Division of Reasi and Dudu-Basantgarh area of Udhampur besides Bani in Kathua were without electricity. In some areas of Doda town, the electricity was partially restored this evening. In Bhaderwah there was no light since yesterday and there was about two feet snow in the lanes and roads in the town. The people are mostly confined inside their houses due to heavy snow and the vehicles remain trapped at many places. The District administrations have directed the PDD authorities to gear up restoration work.
Several areas of Poonch, Rajouri, Dudu- Basantgarh, Mahore, Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar are facing shortage of food grains, vegetables, kerosene oil and other essentials. The water supply to many areas has also been badly hit. At Mendhar, many people led by Sarpanchs staged dharna against shortage of ration and Kerosene oil and submitted memorandum to SDM.
From Jammu to Srinagar almost all the flights except one operated today. But most of the flights were late. The first flight left from Jammu at 1 pm instead of schedule time of 9.40 am as runway and airport at Srinagar could not be cleared from snow by the local authorities. Most of the Srinagar bound flights remained held up at Jammu airport for hours and the passengers had to wait for long.
Traffic Police sources said that over 800 vehicles including trucks have been stranded only at Dayala Chak-Chadwal-Hiranagar and Nud area of Samba. Many vehicles are also stranded at Nagrota By-pass near Jammu, Jakheni (Udhampur) Bypass road, Ramban, Batote, Chanderkote, Banihal and other areas. Many Kashmir and Doda-Kishtwar bound passengers have been stranded at Jammu Bus Stand and the local administration made some arrangement for their stay at local `Sarais’. They said that if the weather improves stranded vehicles will be cleared for Srinagar tomorrow.
IG Traffic Muneer Khan told the Excelsior that heavy snowfall has hampered the road clearance work in Jawahar Tunnel area. He said 4 feet snow had accumulated in the Tunnel area and nearly 2-3 feet in parts of Patnitop. He said BRO men started snow clearance work early in the morning and cleared snow from National Highway in Banihal sector twice. After 11 am it was snowing in Tunnel area and Lower Munda and operation was halted. He said it the weather improved tomorrow the stranded vehicles for Kashmir will be cleared.
A senior official from SKAUST- Jammu disclosed that Jammu recorded a minimum temperature of 0.8 degree Celsius which is 5 degree below normal. The day temperature in Jammu improved and was recorded at 15.8 degree C. It was still 2 degree below normal temperature. He said that with the improvement in weather condition from tomorrow, the day temperature would further increase.
Even as weather improved today during the day with sun rise, the Power Development Department (PDD) failed to restore the electricity in many parts of Kashmir.
The electricity supply remained disrupted for the second consecutive day today in most of the areas of Valley. Many localities of the summer capital have not seen the electricity with people taking to the streets against the Government.
In Fatehkadal, Khanyar, Safakadal and Iqbalabad in Bemina, irate residents came out on the roads demanding immediate restoration of the electricity to their areas.
The posh areas of Jawahar Nagar, Rajbagh, Kursu, Gogjibagh and Wazir Bagh are without electricity for last two days. Locals said the Ministers were putting up in winter capital, but have left the people reeling under darkness amid snow and freezing cold.
“This is the worst power crisis we have faced in the first days of the Chillai Kalan. We have not seen the electricity since the snowfall started on Tuesday. The Government has left us to die in cold,” the agitated residents said.
Entire rural Kashmir including Baramulla, Shopian, Pulwama, Budgam and other areas, where electricity is otherwise curtailed in fair weather, reeled under darkness form the past two day. The protestors alleged that authorities were not making any serious efforts to restore the power supply.
Officials in the PDD claimed that about 80 per cent of the power supply was disrupted in the Valley due to snowfall which damaged the transmission lines and uprooted the electric poles.
Minister of State for Power Viqar Rasool said due to heavy snowfall transmission lines have fallen off from the poles and it will take some time to restore electricity to the whole Valley.
“In Srinagar, the electricity will be restored by late evening. And in rural areas it will take at least two days for restoration,” Rasool claimed.
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