Kashmir gets more snow, more misery but vanishing ice

Srinagar, Feb 4: More overnight snowfall in Kashmir brought more misery for the people, particularly in South Kashmir.

Srinagar-Jammu has again been shut, as usual, and flight operations at the Srinagar Airport are delayed. While road clearance operations on main roads are in progress, blockade of internal roads in hundreds of villages, water scarcity and power supply disruptions have again brought misery in people’s lives.

The only good thing is that deep freezing conditions are likely to ease significantly after this snowfall and Kashmir is likely to witness less cold nights from this week.

While Srinagar and surrounding areas got a thin 2-3 cms of snow, parts of South Kashmir, mainly in Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag have received between four inches to one feet.

Tourist resorts of Yusmarg, Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg have received fresh 8 inches to one feet snowfall.

Meanwhile, in view of the fresh snowfall, the authorities on Thursday suspended the vehicular movement along the Srinagar-Jammu highway as precautionary measure.

Officials confirmed to the news agency —Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that due to the snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel the traffic from Jammu towards Srinagar has been stopped as precautionary measure.

They said the commuters will be allowed to proceed towards their destination only after the road is cleared following improvement in weather conditions.

According to the Disaster Management Department Kashmir, snow depth in District Kulgam, as recorded early morning, was as follows:

Aharbal – 2 inches
DH Pora – 6 inches
DK Marg – 8 inches
Kund – 8 inches
Kulgam – 5 inches

In Shopian District, snow depth was:

Shopian town – 3-4 inches
Kellar – 4-5 inches
Imamsahib- 5-6 inches