Fresh snowfall disrupts air traffic, Kashmir highway closed

Fresh rains and snowfall disrupted air and surface traffic on Saturday as the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed and flights delayed due to poor visibility.

Moderate snowfall was recorded in the plains of Kashmir, while the higher reaches experienced heavy falls, officials said. The snowfall started late Friday night in most places and continued till Saturday morning.

The snowfall and landslides resulted in the closure of the 264-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road link connecting Kashmir with other parts of the country, they said. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded at different points of the highway.

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The iron and steel tunnel at Panthiyal near Ramban on the highway was almost completely damaged by the shooting stones from the hillock overlooking the highway, officials said, adding there was huge debris piled up at Cafetaria Morh and more men and machines were pressed into service to remove the road blockade.

A police official said no traffic was allowed either from Srinagar or Jammu on Saturday. “Once the road is through, only the stranded vehicles will be allowed to move towards their respective destinations,” he said.

All morning flights scheduled to arrive at Srinagar international airport were delayed due to poor visibility caused by the fresh spell of snowfall. However, flight operations resumed in the afternoon as weather improved.

“Visibility is 1000 M We have commenced operations,” Srinagar airport director Kuldeep Singh Rishi tweeted.

While the ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’ the 40-day harshest winter period when a cold wave grips the region and the temperature drops considerably, ended on January 30, moderate cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir with a 20-day-long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).