Srinagar, Apr 25: The 434-km Srinagar-Leh highway was thrown open for vehicular traffic today after remaining closed for nearly five months owing to heavy snowfall during winter.
An army convoy and a fleet of light passenger vehicles moved from Srinagar to Leh, marking the reopening of the highway which connects frontier region of Ladakh with rest of the state, officials said.
Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) Asgar Samoon and General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 corps Lt Gen S A Hasnain were present at the formal opening of the road at Sonamarg, 90-km from here.
General Hasnain and Samoon lauded the role of Border Roads Organisation and praised it for working overtime to make the highway traffic worthy.
The highway was closed for traffic on December one last year after high altitude areas of the Valley including the 11,578-foot high Zojila Pass experienced heavy snowfall.
The snowfall at the Zojila Pass closes the arterial road for six months every year.
However, the snow clearance operations were started in late February which enabled early reopening of the road, the officials said.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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