Bandipora, Mar 21: The Dawar-Tulail road in Gurez Valley in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district reopened Thursday after the completion of snow clearance operations.
After a month, the vehicles were able to ply on the road to and from Tulail Valley in Gurez which is further away with several habitations scattered across hilly terrains.
With the opening of the road, the locals heaved a sigh of relief as patients seeking medical attention would be able to move to hospitals at the centrally located Dawar within Gurez Valley.
“Even though we don’t have any emergency patients in our village, those seeking slightly better medical treatment will be able to move to Dawar,” said Zahoor Ahmad, a local.
The Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Gurez, Mukhtar Ahmad confirmed that the Tulail-Dawar road was connected.
Earlier, officials suggested that the clearance operations were taking time due to massive and multiple snow slides that had hit numerous locations across Tulail and Bandipora roads.
However, villagers living in the farthest villages of Kilshay, Gujjran, and Abdullain in Tulail subdivision said that the snow-cutters were expected to reach their village in two to three days.
“We are not able to move yet. Our days are mostly spent indoors,” said Ghulam Mohuiddin Khan from Gujjran.
He said that the vehicles were able to reach Baduaab on Thursday.
“We expect the snow cutters to reach our village Gujjran in two days,” Khan said.
He said 7 to 8 feet of snow was still accumulated in the area and it was getting difficult for school children. Khan said that many children were still waiting to be airlifted to Gurez from Bandipora.
On Thursday, Gurez was lashed with rain, affecting the helicopter operations for the day.
“We want the Gurez-Bandipora road to open soon. Three more patients are waiting to be airlifted but were not taken due to bad weather on Thursday,” said Abdul Raheem, a former Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) member.
He said that the road should open soon as there was an acute shortage of vegetables.
Officials said that snow clearance operations on the Gurez-Bandipora road had reached Dahi Nallah from the Dawar side on Thursday.