Over 500 rescued from NH, Mughal road
Fayaz Bukhari/ Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/ JAMMU, Nov 3: The surface and air link between the Kashmir valley and rest of the country was snapped as Srinagar witnessed snowfall in November for the first time since 2009, resulting in major power break down and blockade of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
The authorities recued over 500 people from Jawahar Tunnel between Banihal and Lower Munda and Pir Ki Gali of Mughal road, who were trapped due to heavy snowfall.
Rain and snowfall continued across the region for third consecutive day today, resulting into the closure of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway this evening while about 170 persons including most of them truck operators, were rescued from Mughal road by Army and Police during over night operation.
A villager was killed and his daughter and uncle were injured during thunderstorm and lightning in Katra area of district Reasi today while heavy rain and fresh snowfall at Pir Panjal, Seoj Dhar and other higher reaches of the region has resulted into sharp fall in Jammu’s temperature.
A senior Traffic Police official said that it was raining heavily in Ramban and Banihal since this afternoon. After shooting stones and landslides at three places between Ramban, Ramsoo and Banihal, the movement of traffic was stopped. He said today the movement of vehicles had been allowed from Srinagar to Jammu side but the vehicles were stopped at Qazigund and Lower Munda area this evening due to bad weather and heavy rain in Ramban region along the highway.
He said the highway also remained closed for three hours during early morning due to land slides in Digdol and Ramsoo area but it was restored at around 9.30 am. He said Mughal road connecting Rajouri-Poonch with Kashmir Valley continued to remain closed for the third consecutive day.
A senior police officer from Poonch said that a joint operation was launched by Army and Police from Surankote side during noon on Friday after reports that more than 100 trucks and two dozen medium and light vehicles had been trapped in Pir Ki Gali, Chhattapani and Poshana area on Mughal road. He said while about 120 persons including mostly truckers were rescued by late evening about 50 more were rescued today and shifted to an Army unit near Surankote. Some of them were provided treatment in Surankote hospital and local Army unit’s Medical aid centre. They were provided food and shelter. Many of them had not taken anything for the last 24 hours.
He said adequate heating arrangements, warm food and bedding facility was catered to the rescued people. He claimed that harsh weather and persistent rain made the rescue work tough and the troops were tested against the odds.
The official further disclosed that an elderly woman who had turned sick near Pir Ki Gali in a vehicle was rescued by Army. She along with her two sons and a minor grandson was shifted to Shopian hospital. The operation continued till early morning today. They said many loaded heavy trucks were still trapped in about two to three feet snow and they will be removed and cleared for the next destination only after weather improves and snow is cleared by using machines.
Kashmir valley witnessed season’s first snowfall today in November for the first time since 2009. “In the last two decades, it was only the fourth time that it has snowed in Srinagar in November with 2009, 2008 and 2004 being the earlier instances,” Director Metrological Department Srinagar, Sonam Lotus, said adding that weather will improve from tomorrow. He said that light to moderate snowfall is expected for next 24 hours.
Heavy snowfall was witnessed across Valley today after heavy rains since yesterday while it continued to snow in the higher reaches of Kashmir for the second day, triggering avalanches in some parts of Gurez in Bandipora district.
Operations at Srinagar airport stopped with several late afternoon and evening flights cancelled due to snowfall and poor visibility. “All flights were cancelled this afternoon today due to poor visibility. No flight landed or took from Srinagar airport,” an official said.
Srinagar-Jammu National Highway (NH-44) connecting the valley with rest of the country, was closed for vehicular traffic due to heavy snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area this evening. Due to snowfall, the roads connecting Gurez with Bandipora, Srinagar with Ladakh, Tanghdar, Keran and Machhil with Kupwara were closed.
Police this evening launched a massive rescue operation near Jawahar Tunnel after around 150 vehicles got stranded there due to snowfall.
SSP Traffic Rural, Muzaffar Ahmad Shah, and his men and Kulgam Police rescued around 300 civilians who were trapped near the Jawahar tunnel. Majority of them were taken to Jawahar Tunnel and then to Banihal where some of them were brought to Qazigund.
Over 350 army personnel whose convoy was also stranded on the highway have been taken to southern side of Jawahar Tunnel on foot where they boarded vehicles for Banihal. However, the CRPF, BSF and ITBP men whose convoy was also stranded near the Jawahar Tunnel were still in their vehicles and efforts were on to shift them to the safer places.
The SSP Traffic said that around 40 passenger vehicles and over 100 security force personnel vehicles got struck at Jawahar Tunnel due to snowfall and slippery road conditions. He said that it was still snowing in the area during night and around one feet snow has accumulated on the road. He said that once snow stops and road clearance takes place, the stranded vehicles will be moved out.
Srinagar-Leh national highway also remained closed today as it was continuously snowing in the region. Traffic Police said that no traffic will be allowed on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway tomorrow. “Decision regarding allowing of vehicles on NHW-44 shall be taken after the road is cleared by concerned road maintenance agencies and after assessing weather/road condition itself”, he said.
Kashmir reeled under darkness today with snowfall snapping the power lines and administration was caught napping. This is for the first time in recent years in Kashmir that there has been such a major power break down. In majority of the areas, there is no electricity since last night while in some places, the power was off since this afternoon.
Chief Engineer PDD Kashmir, Hashmat Qazi, said that heavy snowfall has resulted in trees with thick foliage falling down on electrical lines damaging most of the 33KV lines. He said intermittent rainfall and now heavy snowfall led to frequent faults in the electrical system affecting supply in most parts of the uptown and civil line areas of Srinagar.
Qazi said two main trunk lines including Centaur and TRC coming from Cheshmashahi have come down after huge trees fell on them, adding that Karan Nagar and Barbar Shah lines are also under trees at various places but that restoration process is well underway.
The CE PDD said a full-fledged restoration work has been underway but continuous snowfall has made it very difficult to maintain the lines resulting in decreased power supply to just 80 MWs as against the normal 1150 MWs supplied this morning.
He said the department is doing all that is possible to restore all lines as soon as possible having pressed into service all its men and machinery. He said that first priority is to restore the transmission lines and Grid Stations which will be followed by restoring of HT and LT lines. He said that once the snowfall stops, it will take them few hours to restore power.
A man died due to lightening in Gawalan area of Uri in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district this morning. Sher Ahmad, 38, son of Mir Ahmad, a resident of Gawalan, Uri died when lightning struck him at around 8.30 am.
A non-local, whose identity was being ascertained by the police died apparently due to cold in Nazrullahpora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
A report from Reasi said that one Farooq Ahmed Bakerwal was killed on the spot while his daughter Rafiqa and uncle Abdullah, were injured seriously when they fell victims to the lightning during thunder storm and rain at Kun Darorian village near Katra in Reasi district today. The injured were shifted top Katra hospital and then referred to GMC Hospital, Jammu.
Due to snowfall, temperature across Kashmir, dropped by around 10 degree Celsius. Srinagar witnessed maximum of 6.3 degrees Celsius while night temperature plunged to 1.8 degree Celsius.
Qazigund received 1.6 inches, Pahalgam several inches and plains of Kupwara and Budgam nearly half a foot of snow. In frontier Kupwara district, the upper reaches including Sadna top received 2 feet of snow, Z-Gali received 1.5-ft of snow and Ferkiyan Top of Keran received 1.5-ft of snow.
Gulmarg received one feet of snowfall while hills around the tourist place had 2-2.5 feet of snow.
A Met spokesman said that weather in Jammu region will improve from tomorrow onwards while it will remain cloudy over night and for the several hours on Sunday. He said a sharp fall of nearly six degree Celsius has been recorded in the temperature of Jammu during last two days. Jammu recorded a minimum temperature of 16.2 degree C and maximum 25.4 degree C, holy township of Katra maximum 23 degree C and minimum 14.2 degree c, while tourist resort Bhaderwah maximum 11.2 degree C and minimum 6 degree C temperature today.
Meanwhile, the season’s snowfall also led to massive disruption in traffic in Srinagar city, witnesses said. Unruly scenes were witnessed on most of the roads leading to the City Centre due to choked roads and unprecedented traffic jams.
There was water logging across Srinagar city due to choked drains. However, at few places the SMC had installed pumps for dewatering but at majority of the places roads were waterlogged.
There was traffic mess on Srinagar roads since morning as massive Traffic jams were witnessed everywhere. The worst affected were Rajbagh, TRC, Regal Chowk, Lal Chowk, Hari Singh High Street, Batmaloo and Shalteng. It took hours for commuters to cover a few kilometer distance despite majority of the people sitting indoors due to inclement weather. State’s first Olympian, Gul Mustafa Dev, said that it took him five hours to cover a distance of six kilometers from Batamaloo to his home at Chanpora this afternoon.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, instructed all concerned departments with regard to the preparedness about snow-clearance and dewatering in the district.
The departments were asked to ensure meeting any eventuality arising out of the prevalent weather situation in the district being directed to keep adequate men and machinery on standby. He instructed to ensure timely clearance of snow from all main roads, lanes and by-lanes, especially roads leading to important installations like hospitals and receiving stations.
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