Vehicle continue to ply on Srinagar-Leh road

Srinagar, Nov 21 (UNI) Vehicles continued to ply on the 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh National Highway which was officially closed from November 15, for six winter months.

Official sources said vehicles, particularly Light Motor Vehicles (LMV) carrying passengers, were plying on the highway because of no snowfall this year so far.

As long as the weather remains dry, the road was safe, they said.

However, they warned that sudden snowfall could prove disastrous for vehicles and passengers.

Last year, more than a dozen vehicles got buried under snow in December and were recovered only in March this year after melting of snow.

Two Kashmiri teachers and a labourer were also killed after they were buried under avalanches following heavy snowfall in December last year.

A traffic police official told UNI the highway had been officially closed from November 15 for six winter months.

Majority traffic police officials, who remained deployed during summer months on the highway, were withdrawn, he added.

He said the drivers plying their vehicles on the highway on their own risk.

The highway remains closed for six winter months due to ten feet to 35 feet snowfall on the highway every year.

The authorities are already working to dig a tunnel in the Zojila pass to make the highway all weather road.

UNI