The vital Srinagar-Jammu national highway remained closed for the second consecutive day on Tuesday due to fresh snowfall and landslides along the arterial route leading to 1,000 vehicles being stranded on it.
The 294km long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, connecting the Kashmir Valley with rest of the country, remained closed for all vehicular movement as there was heavy snowfall at several areas in the Jawahar tunnel-Patnitop section and also heavy rains at Ramban, Superintendent of Police Ramban Anil Magotra said.
A traffic department official said six inches of fresh snowfall was recorded at Jawahar tunnel on Tuesday. On Monday, one and half feet of snow had accumulated.
Heavy snowfall was reported from Jawahar tunnel, Ramso, Batote, Patnitop areas en-route the highway, while landslides occurred at Nashri and Sheri Bibi areas today in Ramban sector, he said.
The official said the highway will remain closed till further orders.
Over 1,000 vehicles are stranded at various places, including Nagrota, Udhampur, Kud, Ramban and Jawahar tunnel enroute the highway, police said in Jammu.
The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway is a vital road link which connects the Valley with the rest of the country and acts as a supply channel for all the essential commodities to the region.
Meanwhile, fresh snowfall and rains lashed the Kashmir Valley with minimum temperature in Gulmarg slipping to minus 11.4 degrees Celsius, a drop of 5.4 degrees from last night.
The tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam on Tuesday received fresh snowfall for the second consecutive day as the minimum temperature at both the places remained below freezing point.
A MeT official said Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir received 45 centimetres of snowfall and Gulmarg received 21 centimetres of snowfall.
Weather department has forecast light to moderate snow at few places in the next 24 hours.
The summer capital, where the minimum temperature fell to zero degree Celsius, recorded 22.0 millimetres rainfall and snow, the official said.
North Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara town received 11.6 millimetres of rainfall and snow, the official said.
In the remote Ladakh region’s Leh town, the minimum temperature fell to minus 7.0 degrees Celsius.
Kargil town, also in Ladakh region, recorded a low of minus 10.0 degrees Celsius, the official said.
