Srinagar/Jammu, Jan 15: Kashmir valley remained cut-off from rest of the world with fresh snowfall disrupting both road and air traffic.
Snowfall and subsequent rains in south of Pir Panjal mountain range, led to complete closure of the Srinagar-Jammu highway, that was recently opened for partial traffic following last week’s snowfall.
Officials said moderate to heavy snowfall on the highway forced them to close the road. “We have suspended the traffic for the safety of passengers as a lot of snow has accumulated on the highway and it is still snowing there. Till 9:00 pm yesterday many vehicles succeeded in crossing over to Kashmir but those who came after 9.00 pm were forced to stay put,” Inspector General of Police (Traffic), HK Lohia told Greater Kashmir.
 Over 2,200 vehicles were stranded on the highway due to heavy snowfall in Banihal-Patnitop sector of Ramban district.
 Due to the closure of the 300-km-long highway, vehicles were seen stranded at various places including Udhampur and Nagrota belts.
 The Border Road Organisation (BRO) has started work for resuming the flow of traffic, but the continuous snowfall is making the task difficult, they said.

NO FLIGHTS OPERATE FROM SRINAGAR
 No flights operated from Srinagar ‘International’ Airport on Sunday, an official spokesman said.
 He said the snow clearance machines were deployed by Mechanical Engineering Department for clearance at Srinagar International Airport since 4.00 am and Beacon authorities also deployed their machines for clearance of apron and runway since 1.00 am, but due to poor visibility no flights could operate from the airport.

SRINAGAR-MUZAFFARABAD HIGHWAY CLOSED
 Coordinator Disaster Management cell Amir Ali on Sunday said that Karvan-e-Aman bus scheduled to leave for Muzaffarabad on January 16 (Monday) stands cancelled due to inclement weather conditions.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST