* 92 sheep, goats die of lightning in Billawar
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Feb 20: With the improvement in weather condition, the Srinagar Jammu National Highway was restored this afternoon and nearly 3000 stranded vehicles were cleared by late this evening while Batote-Doda-Kishtwar road remained blocked due to landslides at five places.
The National Highway remained closed for the fresh traffic on the second consecutive day today while Valley received fresh snowfall and intermittent rains. The Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has issued avalanche warnings in the mountainous areas of the region.
At least 92 sheep, goats and a dog were killed in lightning during rain and thunder-storm early today in Billawar area of Kathua district while traffic to Poonch has been diverted via Kalai bridge as a portion of Sher-e-Kashmir bridge and its approach road were further washed away due to flash flood in the river on Thursday. This vital and strategic bridge on river Poonch, has become victim of litigation by a few vested interests at the cost of the sufferings of over 2 lakh people as the restoration and expansion work could not be started on it for the last over three months.
Heavy rain and snowfall in the State during past few days had triggered landslides and shooting stones at six places between Ramban and Banihal on the highway and traffic has been stopped from both the sides of the highway since yesterday. No fresh traffic was allowed from both Jammu and Srinagar side today.
Inspector General of Police, Traffic, Muneer Ahmad Khan, told the Excelsior that National Highway was closed for fresh traffic today. He disclosed that BRO men cleared slides at six locations between Ramban and Banihal but at 172 kms near Magarkot about 10 meters portion of the highway was washed away during early hours today and BRO team managed to make fresh single track by this afternoon just to clear stranded vehicles. He disclosed that nearly 3000 stranded and other vehicles bound for Srinagar were cleared by late this evening. They included around 600 passenger vehicles and 1500 trucks. There was slippery road at Pir Panjal and all the passenger vehicles crossed Jawahar Tunnel and the goods carriers were following them to Valley.
Mr Khan further said Gangroo, Seri and Panthal were cleared earlier besides two other locations while Magarkot road patch was temporarily restored for one-way traffic. He said that only light motor vehicles and empty trucks will be allowed to ply on the highway from Srinagar to Jammu tomorrow subject to weather conditions. He said that the vehicles have to cross Qazigund between 8 am and 2 pm. No movement of vehicles from Jammu side will be allowed tomorrow.
The IGP further said there was no stranded vehicle on the highway today but those trucks and other vehicles which were stopped at Nagrota Bypass, Udhampur, Dhar Road and Lower Munda or Qazigund in Kashmir were not allowed to move from their respective places today. The Batote-Kishtwar highway will also be restored for two-way traffic tomorrow, Mr Khan maintained.
Huge rush of passengers has been witnessed at Jammu General Bus Stand as a large number of Kashmir and Doda-Kishtwar bound passengers have been stranded here for the last two days. They were facing lot of hardships due to high blockade.
In a fresh incident at Panjtirthi at the bank of river Ujh in Billawar area of Kathua, nearly 92 sheep/ goats of six families were killed. A police official said that members of nomad families including Mohd Shafi, Mohd Ghani, Mohd Yousuf and Lal Din- all sons of Babu Din and Yaru, son of Makhan Din and Bashir, son of Gulla hailing from Panjtirthi forest area reported to Police Station Billawar today, claiming that their 92 sheep/goats and a dog were killed as strong beam of light from the sky during thunder- storm hit them at around 3 am today. The police team along with veterinary doctor and other staff reached the spot to assess the situation. The injured goats and sheep were also provided treatment there.
Meantime, the tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam and places like Qazigund and Kupwara and most of the places in the higher reaches of Kashmir received fresh snowfall today, while other parts of the Valley received intermittent rains for the fifth consecutive day.
A Meteorological department official said that around one feet of fresh snow accumulated at Gulmarg during the night, while Pahalgam recorded 3 inches of fresh snowfall.
The official said the minimum temperature in Gulmarg, settled at minus 3 degrees Celsius, up by over a degree from minus 4.4 degrees Celsius yesterday. The mercury at Pahalgam settled at a low of minus 0.6 degree Celsius, around one degree up from minus 1.8 degrees Celsius yesterday.
Srinagar, received 25 mm of rainfall in the night and the city recorded a low of 0.4 degree Celsius, down by nearly four degrees from 4 degrees Celsius the previous night. Qazigund received 6 inch of overnight snow and recorded a low of 0.4 degree Celsius, a decrease of nearly three degrees from 3.2 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Kokernag, recorded the minimum temperature of minus 0.9 degrees Celsius, over two degrees down from 2.5 degrees Celsius yesterday and received 5 inches of snow. Kupwara, in North Kashmir settled at a low of 0.8 degree Celsius compared to 1.1 degrees Celsius the previous night and the town received 21.5 mm of rainfall during the night.
Leh, in Ladakh region recorded a drop of nearly three degrees in the minimum temperature as the mercury settled there at a low of minus 5.9 degrees Celsius compared to minus 3.1 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Kargil town registered the minimum temperature of minus 7.8 degrees Celsius as against minus 8.6 degrees Celsius yesterday.
Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir has issued an avalanche warning in the avalanche-prone areas of Bandipora, Kupwara and Kargil districts of Kashmir division. People have been advised not to venture out in avalanche prone areas and temporarily evacuate those locations which are under the fall line of avalanches.
Meanwhile, Chief Engineer R&B Jammu Hamid Sheikh said that restoration work on vital SK Bridge at Poonch could not be carried out as a few vested interests have gone to the High Court. He said the department was following the case vigorously and as and when the stay is vacated by the Court, the work on this vital and strategic bridge at Poonch will be started at war footing.
He further said that tenders were called about three months back and Rs 8 crore work was also allotted to a firm who gave lowest bid but due to bindings by the court the work could not be started. The department planned to finish this work before coming monsoon but now three months have already been lapsed. He further maintained that portion of temporary bailey bridge raised at the site was intact but major portion of approach road to main bridge further washed away due to flood. He said 70 mt span of the bridge towards Poonch city is being extended with two additional pillars and a culvert. He said that Deputy Commissioner M H Malik was himself closely monitoring the progress. The DC has already banned any sort of construction around the river but some people connected politically were creating hurdles in the restoration work.
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