Fresh snowfall in Chenab Valley and Pir Panchal on Friday forced the closure of several highways.
A senior traffic department official said that fresh snowfall occurred in Nashri and Batote areas of the nearly 110-km long Batote-Kishtwar highway and Bhalla to Bhaderwah areas of 226-km long Doda-Basholi highway during the intervening night of Thursday-Friday.
The official said around one foot snow accumulated on the road from Nashri Tunnel to Batote and 1.5 ft at Bhaderwah on the PulDoda-Bhadarwah highway and it was still snowing in the area.
Zuhaib Hassan, deputy superintendent of police, traffic, Batote-Kishtwar sector confirmed the suspension of traffic on Batote-Kishtwar and Pul-Doda-Bhaderwah highways.
“Road clearance operation would be started immediately after the snowfall stops. Those who intend to travel are advised not to undertake the journey before contacting our control rooms in Srinagar, Doda and Jammu,” he said.
The traffic on all the major link roads including Thathri-Gandoh, Bhaderwah-Chinchora, Bhaderwah-Thanhala, Kishtwar-Chatroo, Doda-Marmat, Doda-Dessa, Doda-Gundana and Bhaderwah-Mathola was also suspended.
The local Meteorological department at Bhaderwah has forecast fair weather from Saturday afternoon.
In Rajouri district, Rajouri-Kotranka road remain blocked till 1 pm Friday, after which authorities launched snow clearance operations and managed to restore the road for one-way traffic. However, severe slippery conditions on the road continue to pose difficulties.
Thannamandi to Surankote road, via DKG continued to remain shut for the third consecutive day on Friday, with the accumulation of over 3 feet snow at DKG top.
Deputy commissioner, Rajouri, Mohammad AijazAsad, told Greater Kashmir that traffic remain affected on Kotranka, Budhal and Khawas roads, while the Kotranka and Budhal road have been partially restored for vehicular movement.
Meanwhile, in Poonch district, the residents said that Saujiyan road is open only uptoKhet and about seven kilometres of the road, from Khet to Saujiyan, remains buried under snow.