SRINAGAR: The 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was closed due to snowfall on this side of the Jawahar tunnel.
Meanwhile, roads linking the far-flung and remote areas, including those near the Line of Control (LoC) have also been closed due to heavy snowfall.
“We have closed the the highway, the only road linking the valley with rest of the country,” a traffic police official said here this morning.
He said there was about one feet of snowfall on this side of the Jawahar tunnel. The road had become slippery due to snow, he said, adding that the road was closed as a precautionary measure.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of the highway, has pressed into service sophisticated machines and men to clear the snow and put through the highway. However, continued snowfall was hampering the snow clearance operation.
Meanwhile, hundreds of vehicles, including those carrying passengers, are stranded on both sides of the highway since last night when the road was declared unsafe for travel, official sources said here.
They said trucks, loaded with essentials for the Kashmir valley, are also stranded on other side of the tunnel.
Similarly, trucks carrying fruit and those empty from here were also stranded at different places on the highway, including at Qazigund, the gateway of Kashmir.
The Mughal road has also been closed due to heavy snowfall, sources said.
Dozens of roads, including those connecting the far-flung and remote areas near the LoC in north Kashmir were also closed due to heavy snowfall since yesterday. (AGENCIES)
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