Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Jan 19: Surface and air traffic to Kashmir valley resumed today after it was disrupted following heavy snowfall in Kashmir valley while police rescued over 140 people from South Kashmir’s avalanche prone area.
Police and the local administration today rescued around 140 people from Waltengo Nar in Kulgam district of South Kashmir after heavy snowfall in the Pir Panjal Mountains.
DIG South Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said that the rescue operation was launched early in the morning in the Waltengo Nar that is prone to avalanches.
DC Kulgam, Jehangir Mir, and SP Kulgam Mohammad Shafi were supervising the operation in which 140 civilians comprising 50 children, 45 males and 45 females were rescued.
The DIG said that these families were reluctant to come out of the area but authorities shifted them to newly constructed colony at Wasaknag as a precautionary measure.
He said that although there was no imminent danger of avalanches in Waltengo Nar, the shifting measure was undertaken in view of the vulnerability of the area to snowstorms and avalanches.
It may be mentioned here that on February 22, 2005, avalanches killed 175 people in Kund and Waltengo Nar villages in Kulgam district. Many villages in South Kashmir’s Pir Panjal Mountains are situated in the crest of the mountain ridges, making them vulnerable to snow storm and avalanches because of slopes protruding from two sides making wind to whirl and trigger avalanches.
In the meantime, the Border Roads Organizations today pressed its men and machinery into service and re-opened Jammu-Srinagar National Highway that was closed on Thursday after heavy snowfall. Around 4 feet snow had accumulated near the Jawahar Tunnel and high velocity winds were hampering the clearance operation of the BRO in Shaitani Nallah area.
IGP, Traffic, Muneer Ahmad Khan, told Excelsior that highway was cleared for one-way traffic at around 12 noon. He said that 60 passenger vehicles and 220 Srinagar bound load carriers that were stranded in Ramban and Banihal were cleared till evening.
The IGP Traffic said that all kinds of vehicles including private LMV’s, commercial LMV’s, LCV’s, Medium passenger as well as commercial vehicles, buses, heavy commercial vehicles would be allowed to travel from Jammu to Srinagar tomorrow.
Khan said that all vehicles are required to cross TCP Nagrota by 900 hours, Udhampur by 1200 hours and TCP Banihal by 1700 hours beyond which no vehicle shall be allowed to proceed towards Kashmir for onward journey. “However, the cut off timing can be reviewed if the weather and road condition improves”, he added.
The IGP Traffic said that all kinds of vehicles including private LMV’s, commercial LMV’s, LCV’s, Medium passenger as well as commercial vehicles, buses, heavy commercial vehicles would be allowed to travel from Kashmir side towards Jammu on Monday. “However, all vehicles are required to cross TCP Panthachowk by 900 hours, Khanabal by 1100 hours and TCP Qazigund by 1300 hours beyond which no vehicle shall be allowed to proceed towards Lower Munda for onward journey”, he added.
The authorities here cancelled the Karvan-e-Aman bus between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad due to snowfall in Uri. The trans-LoC bus plies between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad on Mondays.
The air traffic that remained disrupted yesterday due to poor visibility and snowfall at Srinagar International Airport resumed today normally.
In the meantime, reports from various districts say that the power supply to the majority of the Rural areas is yet to be restored. However, power to the major towns and Srinagar city was restored yesterday.
Many parts of Srinagar remained water logged today due to choking of drains due to melting of snow. Commuters faced problems due to water logging. However, authorities used de-water pumps in low lying area where the water logging was more.
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