Army porter dies in avalanche; 2 rescued
Power supply to many areas snapped
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Jan 7: An Army porter was killed while two others were rescued when an avalanche hit a post near the Line of Control (LoC) in Mandi area of Poonch late this evening, as the continued rain across J&K and snowfall in Kashmir and hilly areas of Jammu region created havoc, whereas, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the last two days.
While the National Highway authorities cleared landslides at Digdole and two places at Boom and Karol area of Chanderkote today but with the heavy snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area, the movement of vehicles has been completely suspended on the highway. The light motor vehicles stranded at Ramban which were cleared for Kashmir were again stopped in Banihal area this afternoon as heavy snowfall continued at Pir Panchal.
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Reports from Poonch said that due to avalanche at Doda Sankh area, near Kobra Post in Mandi area, a local porter, Zaffar Iqbal, son of Mohd Farid, resident of Shalla Dangri in Mandi was killed while two other porters hailing from Mandi were rescued by the Army jawans late this evening. Tragedy struck when they had gone to deliver ration supply to an Army post at the higher reaches near the LoC. The injured porters were being shifted to Army hospital Poonch.
Meanwhile, Kashmir continued to be lashed by rains and snowfall for second consecutive day today leading to the continuous blockade of the highway and many link roads across Valley.
The snowfall continued and about one and a half feet snow accumulated near Jawahar Tunnel leading to the continuous blockade of the National Highway. It also caused slippery road conditions at many places on this stretch.
“Despite snowfall, around 130 stranded vehicles in Banihal area were cleared towards Srinagar during morning hours but more than 300 LMVs were stranded in Banihal area due to again blockade of highway at Jawahar Tunnel. They had earlier stranded since yesterday at Ramban, ” SSP Traffic NH JS Johar said.
The upper reaches of Kashmir valley witnessed fresh snowfall today and Weatherman has forecast the freak weather to continue till tomorrow. The weather may show some improvement tomorrow evening.
Due to freak weather, temperatures continued to fall in Kashmir. Srinagar recorded a maximum of 2.7 degree Celsius temperature and minimum of minus 0.5 degree Celsius, Gulmarg, the world famous ski resort, recorded maximum of 0.2 degree Celsius and minimum minus 6.0 deg C, Pahalgam maximum 0.3 deg C and minimum of minus 3.9 deg C, Qazigund recorded maximum of 2.7 degree Celsius and minimum of minus 1.3 degree Celsius, Kokernag maximum of 1.5 degree Celsius and minimum of minus 4.5 degree C while Kupwara registered a maximum of 2.6 degree Celsius and minimum of minus 1.2 degree Celsius.
Leh recorded maximum of 0.0 degree Celsius and minimum of minus 11.0 degree Celsius while Drass recorded maximum of minus 8. 0 degree Celsius and minimum of minus 10.9 degree Celsius.
Meanwhile, Jammu recorded a maximum temperature of 11.4 degree Celsius and minimum 9.0 degree C, Banihal maximum 1.8 degree Celsius and minimum of minus 0.2 degree C, Batote maximum 2.6 deg C and minimum minus 2.3 deg, Katra maximum 9.6 degree C and minimum 7.0 degree Celsius while Bhaderwah recorded maximum 4.9 degree C and minimum minus 0.3 degree Celsius temperature today.
MeT spokesman further said that Jammu recorded 23.3 mm rainfall since last night while Srinagar 5.6 mm. Batote, Udhampur and Bhaderwah areas have shown heavy rainfall besides parts of Poonch. He said rain and snowfall would continue in many parts of J&K during next 24 hours but weather will show in signs of improvement in the evening.
Official sources said that due to blockade of highway for the second day, over 45 vehicles have been stranded in Udhampur Bypass, Dhar Road (Manwal-Mansar) and Nagrota Bypass area of Jammu.
A senior Traffic police official said that Patnitop also experienced heavy snowfall and the Kud-Batote road has also been closed. The movement of the tourists has been restricted due to slippery road conditions. Batote- Doda-Kishtwar Road was clear. He said no movement of vehicles from Udhampur, Jammu towards Kashmir or from Srinagar-Qazigund side to Jammu was allowed today. He said tomorrow, if the road opens, after clearance of LMVs, heavy vehicles carrying essentials and other goods towards Valley will be cleared.
With the rain and snowfall, Basohli-Bani road in district Kathua and Latti-Dudu-Basantgarh road and Panchero-Landhar roads in Udhampur have been closed. Mahore-Gool and Chassana-Budhal roads of Reasi-Rajouri, and Bafliaz-Thannamandi roads besides Mandi- Loran and Mandi-Sawjian roads were also closed. With the rain and snowfall, the power supply to more than 80% rural/snow bound areas in Jammu division has been snapped.
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