Srinagar Airport made operational, 6 flights cancelled at Jammu
Link to Doda, Kishtwar, several other roads snapped
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Jan 7: Over 8000 vehicles have been stranded as the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway continued to be blocked for fifth consecutive day today while Srinagar Airport resumed its operation after four days.
Official sources told the Excelsior that after clearing snow from the Jawahar Tunnel axis of Pir Panchal, the one way movement of stranded tankers and goods carriers in Banihal area was allowed towards Kashmir this evening but massive landslide at Samroli in Chenani of Udhampur could not be cleared till late this evening. With this, the link to Doda, Kishtwar, Bhaderwah, Kud- Patnitop, Chenani, Latti and Dudu Sub Division has also been snapped.
With improvement in weather conditions, flight operations resumed at Srinagar airport today after four days of air traffic suspension but there was confusion at and on the way to the airport.
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The flight operation at Srinagar Airport resumed today a day after the Border Roads Organization cleared the runway.
“We are happy to have restored and resumed flight operation just after heavy snowfall and bad weather condition without leaving any stone related to safety parameters for aircraft operation. We welcome our esteemed passengers again”, Srinagar Airport tweeted.
And there was chaos at Srinagar airport as the road to airport was not cleared properly nor were the areas around ticketing counters of various airlines. Scores of people, mostly elderly, slipped near these counters. The parking of the airport was also not cleared leading to traffic jam from Peer Bagh to Airport.
Tourists had to walk several kilometers along with their luggage and children to airport. Bilal Ahmad, a travel agent told Excelsior that it took him 2 hours from Hyderpora to reach airport. “Finally I along with tourists had to walk to airport from Peer Bagh Bridge.
Official sources said that more than 8000 vehicles including most of them load carriers and Tankers are stranded all along the National Highway, including Jammu- Nagrota Bypass, Dhar Road Udhampur, Jakhani, Manwal, Battal, Samba-Mansar, Dayala Chak -Chhallan Road besides Chenani-Nashri, Kud, Batote, North side of Jawahar Tunnel and Batote-Doda-Kishtwar Road.
IG Traffic, J&K, T Namgyal told the Excelsior that there was heavy snow, right from Nowgam in Banihal area to Lower Munda. After tough work of two and half days, the BRO managed to remove snow and make one way passage in the Jawahar Tunnel Axis by this afternoon. He disclosed that after 4 pm, the movement of loaded trucks and tankers in Banihal and parts of Ramban area was allowed towards Kashmir.
Namgyal further said during night, there is risk of snow avalanche in Shaitani Nallah area and closer to the North and South portals of Jawahar Tunnel. Moreover, road also turns slipperly. The movement of vehicles will be stopped as precautionary measures during night hours. He said highway between Ramban and Qazigund has been cleared but Mehar near Ramban and Samroli in Chenani area were still blocked. He said the work on war footing was going on at these places. The movement of stranded vehicles with essentials towards Kashmir will be allowed first if the highway is cleared by tomorrow morning and the weather permitted, the IG added.
SSP Traffic, NH, JS Johar said Mehar and Cafeteria Morh area were cleared during the day besides other landslides between Nashri-Ramban and Banihal but at around 4 pm again, fresh landslide took place at Mehar. The men and machinery were on the job and area is likely to be cleared tonight. But at Samroli slide, the sluch and mud besides big boulders were creating problem. Three boulders being very big in size were blasted during the day and this area is likely to be cleared during midnight or by morning. Johar said he was closely monitoring the restoration work.
Meanwhile, a large number of vehicles have been stranded in Batote, Kud, Doda and Kishtwar areas as well due to closure of highway at Samroli. Many link roads in the snow bound areas of Doda, Kishtwar and Udhampur area are still blocked. However, power supply to many areas has been restored.
Reports from Poonch said that due to landslide near Dera Nangali Sahib, the road from Nangali to Shahpur and Qasba was blocked today. This road has also snapped the link to several LoC posts of the area.
Director Airport Authority, Jammu PR Beoria said that due to bad weather six flights including two of SpiceJet and two Air India, were cancelled at Jammu Airport today. He said flights could land only after 12 noon due to poor visibility.
SDM Bani, Joginder Singh disclosed that a Kucha house of one Sajjad Ahmed, son of Ghulam Qadir, resident of Gatti village in Bani Sub Division was damaged due to flash flood last night. However, no loss of life was reported.
And in the meantime, several areas in Kashmir, mostly rural, are still out of bounds due to snow as it was not cleared so far. In several area like Sazgaripora in Hawal and Gulzarpora in Rawalpora in Srinagar, people collected money to hire labourers for snow clearance.
In several areas of Budgam district like Dharmuna, Soibugh and other villages people cleared the snow from the lanes and bylanes on their own. “This has happened for the first time, the administration used to clear snow but this time we cleared on our own”, said Abdul Qayoom.
People mostly stayed indoors as majority of the roads were slippery while the snow was not properly cleared. The vehicular movement was very thin and only people with emergencies moved out.
After improvement in the weather conditions across Kashmir, the night temperature has plummeted across the Valley today.
The minimum temperature has plummeted across the Valley and the weatherman here has predicted further dip in the night temperature from Jan 9.
Deputy Director Meteorological department, Mukhtar Ahmad said that the minimum temperature has gone down as compared to previous night while there is a possibility of further dip by one to two degree Celsius from the intervening night of Thursday-Friday. He added that the temperature would go further down after January 9.
A MeT official said that the night temperature in Srinagar settled at minus 0.8 degree Celsius, adding that Gulmarg, a famous ski-resort recorded minus 8.5 degree Celsius temperature last night. Pahalgam recorded minus 2.5 degree Celsius.
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