Kashmir highway reopens, snow in higher reaches

Srinagar, Feb 12: Traffic on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway resumed today after remaining suspended since last evening due to landslides and shooting of stones, triggered by heavy rains.

A traffic police official told sources that traffic on the Kashmir highway, the only road linking the valley with the rest of the country, was suspended last evening following landslides and shooting of stones at Penthal.

He said there was snowfall also at Patnitop, making the road slippery.

However, he said, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) responsible for the maintenance of the highway pressed into service machines and hundreds of workers to clear the landslides.

Traffic on the highway was resumed at 1030 hours today, he said adding that all the vehicles, including trucks loaded with fruits, will be allowed from Srinagar to Jammu today.

No vehicle will be allowed from Jammu to Srinagar today, he added.

Meanwhile, the upper reaches in the Kashmir valley received moderate to heavy snowfall since yesterday morning while plains had rains.

About six inches to one foot of snowfall was recorded at world famous ski resort of Gulmarg, Khilanmarg and Affarwat.

It was heavily snowing at holy Amarnath cave shrine and its periphery since last evening, official sources said.

Rains lashed the summer capital, Srinagar and its adjoining areas, disrupting normal life.

The cold wave conditions have forced people to wear woolens again in the valley, where the weather remained dry and minimum and maximum above normal during the past two months.

UNI