* 75 persons rescued, 200 vehicles trapped
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 19: While Army and Police rescued nearly 75 persons trapped in heavy snow in district Poonch and Rajouri since yesterday, power supply, tele-communication and land link to many parts of these districts continued to be snapped whereas, more than 200 vehicles have been trapped in snow bound areas of district Poonch.
In view of massive snow fall in Poonch area all the schools, colleges and other educational institutions remained closed today. Shops in many areas of the city markets were also found closed due to heavy snow in the lanes which is being removed now. The district administration had announced closure of schools and college in Poonch yesterday.
The water supply to the city has also been badly hit and people are suffering. There is considerable shortage of vegetables and other consumable items in the area. More than 200 vehicles are said to have trapped between Bhimber Gali-Jara Wali Gali-Surankote and Poonch besides Mandi Loran road.
With the initiative of Army, the single link between BG-Mendhar-KH was restored this afternoon and some trapped vehicles were cleared on war footings. The Civil Administration has sought the assistance of the Army as they didn’t have adequate snow clearing machines/ cutters on this highway. The police assisted by 124 Inf Battalion (TA) rescued 75 persons trapped in snow in Bhimber Gali area and provided food and shelter to them. Fifty trucks, 40 light/ medium vehicles and four buses had been trapped.
These 55 males, 19 females and one child were also provided shelter by the Army units of the area. The Army also rescued about half a dozen families in Sawjian area of Mandi-Loran and Hill Kaka area of Surankote. About 5-7 feet snowfall has been witnessed in Bafliaz and Hill Kaka area.
Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Pardeep Gupta said that he was closely monitoring the situation in Poonch, Rajouri besides other snow bound areas of the region. He said special funds to the tune of Rs 10 lakh were released in favour of DC Poonch today to ensure restoration of power supply.
He said 132 KV line between Rajouri-Thanna Mandi-Poonch has been snapped due to heavy snowfall and the Chief Engineer PDD (S&O) was himself camping at Rajouri to monitor work. He said Chief Engineer R&B, PDD (M&RE), GREF and others have been asked to carry on restoration work on war footing. He said power restoration in Poonch may take some time as many towers and poles have fallen. He disclosed that main Jammu- Poonch road via Surankote and Rajouri-Budhal road are likely to be restored by tomorrow. He said Batote-Doda- Kishtwar road was through while other link roads will also ben opened by day or two.
An official spokesman said that the Jammu-Surankote-Poonch highway is likely to be restored within next two days while Rajouri-Thanna Mandi-Dera Gali-Bafliaz-Poonch road is unlikely to be restored even in next one week. Mughal road has already been closed while single link has been restored up to Mendhar by Army to ensure mobility along the LoC.
One Haji Farooq from Hill Kaka area disclosed that people of this area of Surankote, comprising of two Panchayats are facing lot of hardships. There is no drinking water, adequate food and light moreover, connectivity has also been snapped for the last two days. He urged the district administration to pay attention towards the people of this area.
He said there was 6 to 8 feet snow and majority of the people have been confined within their kutcha structures and facing threat of collapse due to heavy snow. Two houses of Gulzar Hussain, son of Inayat Ullah of Dhar Galoon (Balakote) and Gulzar Ahmed of Gursai collapsed due to heavy snow, however, no loss of human life is reported.
Meanwhile, entire Poonch district has been plunged into darkness. Many poles and towers have been uprooted and chilling cold and heavy snow has made life of people horrible. There is no possibility of early restoration of power supply as over 40 odd poles have been damaged. Many link roads are also closed while traffic could not be restored on Rajouri-Budhal (Kotranka), Khawas and adjoining areas. The power supply is also affected in these areas.
Reports said that traffic has been restored on Batote-Doda-Kishtwar road but many interior link roads are still closed. He said Ramnagar- Majori-Basantgarh road and Basohli Bani links are also closed and electricity supply has been badly hit. Traffic on Jammu-Srinagar highway was restored and many stranded vehicles cleared. Many vehicles have also been stranded in Bani, Dudu-Basantgarh, Gool and Mahore area of the region.
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