Roads to far-flung areas in Kashmir remain closed
Srinagar, Mar 15 : Roads to several dozen far-flung and remote villages, including those near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir and the highway connecting the Ladakh region with the rest of the state, remained closed due to snowfall since December last year.
However, the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was through for one-way traffic.
Roads leading to far-flung and remote areas, including Gurez, Dawar, Neeru, Keran, Karnah, Machil, Teetwal and other areas near LoC remained closed since December last year due to snow.
There was fresh snowfall during the intervening night of March 13 and 14, official sources said.
The authorities had been arranging planes to airlift stranded passengers from these places from time to time. However, people at Dawar and Bandipora alleged that they were stranded for the past one week.
The Srinagar-Leh national highway, the only road link between Ladakh reigon with the state, also remained closed following accumulation of more than ten feet of snowfall at Zojila and other places.
The BRO has started snow clearance operation from Drass, world's second coldest place after Siberia last week.
The Centre and state governments have already approved construction of a tunnel at Zojila to make it an all weather highway.
Only one-way traffic is allowed on the highway since December 15 last year to avoid any traffic jam or accident. However, about a 12 people were killed in different accidents on the highway this year.
Today, traffic from Srinagar to Jammu was allowed and no vehicle will be allowed from Jammu, officials said.