Snow fall, cold wave sweeps Arunachal

Itanagar, Jan 24 (UNI) Arunachal Pradesh witnessed heavy snowfall during the past few days after the mercury level plummeted drastically below two degrees Celsius.

Official sources said a few places, situated at high altitudes recorded very heavy snowfall.

Tawang, located at 10,200 ft altitude, recorded minus two degree Celsius with two ft snow. Bomdila, the district headquarters of West Kameng district at a height of 8,500 ft, also witnessed heavy snowfall.

Sella Pass located at a height of above 14,000 ft, between Bomdila and Tawang, recorded the season's highest snowfall of four to five ft.

Life was thrown out of gear at Tawang due to bone-chilling cold as people preferred to remain indoors.

Power, water supply and vehicular movement also remained disrupted following the cold weather.

Ziro, the headquarters of Lower Subansiri district, located above 5000 ft, has been experiencing severe cold since early part of this month following heavy snowfall in the upper ridges of Talley Valley. The temperature, which had gone down to minus zero a week ago, stood below two degrees, sources added.

The Roing-Anini road and its adjoining areas too experienced two to three ft of snow during the past few days, sources informed.

Anini, the headquarters of Upper Dibang Valley district remained cut off from rest of the country since January 18 last following landslides and snowfall at several locations.

The GREF authority had pressed its men into service round-the- clock to restore surface communication in the district.

However, the restoration work has been hampered following unavailability of adequate equipment, GREF sources added. The temperature dropped below three degrees at Mayudia, 52 km away from Roing, the headquarters of Lower Dibang Valley district and situated at an altitude of 7000 ft.

Meanwhile, large numbers of tourists from Assam and the adjoining places have already started thronging to winter hill resorts of the state to enjoy the snowfall, sources added.

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