Heavy Snowfall Brings Kashmir Valley To A Standstill As Roads Are Closed, Fuel Rationed

Heavy snowfall over the last three days has cut off the Kashmir Valley and led to blocked roads and power outages and, for the first time in decades, rationing of fuel.

While over 12 inches of snow has been recorded in north Kashmir¡¯s plains, south Kashmir has seen up to 5 feet of snow.

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Fuel rationed

Most shops, private offices and business centres remained closed. The inundated colonies and submerged main roads of the city also forced people to stay indoors. Traffic was very thin, with streets submerged in snow.

The Jammu & Kashmir administration ordered rationing of automobile and cooking fuels in the Valley. Two-wheelers can get up to 3 litres of fuel, private cars can get 10 litres, and commercial vehicles 20 litres.

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Air traffic closed

The snow also led to closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, and suspension of passenger flights. Officials said that no flight could take off or arrive at the Srinagar international airport due to poor visibility. The airlines have already canceled or rescheduled the flights and as per the officials, it was highly unlikely for any operation to take place at the airport in wake of the snowfall.

Link connecting Kashmir to the world, shut

The snow and the government¡¯s seeming failure to anticipate challenges despite the meteorological department¡¯s warning of heavy to very heavy snow, have thrown life completely out of gear in the Valley and angered people. Many roads have been blocked for over three days.

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Srinagar-Jammu highway is the only surface link connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of the world. The link remained closed for the fifth consecutive day due to continuous accumulation of snow at several places, especially in and around Jawarhar tunnel with snow depths of around 3 feet. Around 4500 vehicles, mostly trucks carrying essentials to the valley, remained stranded at several places along the 270 km stretch on Tuesday.

Mughal Road, which connects the Shopian with Poonch district has been closed for several days due to heavy snowfall in the region. Srinagar-Leh highway has been officially closed on the orders by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir on December 30. Pahalgam, the famous tourist destination, and Kokernag recorded 18 cms and 26 cms of fresh snowfall in the 24 hours respectively.

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Regarding Gulmarg, the official said that the world-famous skiing resort accumulated 20 cms of fresh snowfall in the last 24 hours while Kupwara recorded 2 cms of snowfall. Central Kashmir¡¯s Ganderbal and Budgam districts received almost the same snow depth as Srinagar even as higher reaches accumulated around 24-30 cms or more fresh snow.

Schools closed till March 15

After assessing the ground situation, the administration has decided to close schools till March 15. "Schools, up to higher secondary level, will remain closed till March 15, and will open on March 17," director school education Mir Tariq told the reporters.

Meanwhile, Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.8 ¡ãC while mercury settled at minus 1.1¡ãC in Pahalgam, minus 4.0¡ãC in Gulmarg, Qazigund minus 0.2¡ãC, Kupwara minus 0.7¡ãC while Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.7¡ãC, the official said.

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Kashmir is in the middle Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day winter period which commenced on December 21 and ends on January 31. The period is considered the harshest of the winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum.

The cold wave, however, continues even after that in Kashmir with a 20-day-long ¡®Chillai-Khurd¡¯ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ¡®Chillai-Bachha¡¯ (baby cold). The weatherman has forecast more snowfall in the next 24 hours and a ¡°significant¡± improvement in from January 6.