As many as 178 aspirants appearing in JKSSRB exams were flown to Bandipora by Bandipora district administration after they were stranded in Gurez valley.
An official in a statement said that as soon as the matter was brought to the notice of district administration regarding the students stranded in Gurez, Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Owais Ahmad took up the matter with Divisional Commissioner Kashmir and the Army authorities so that special helicopter sorties were arranged to airlift the students.
He said that despite adverse weather conditions the district administration undertook the exercise of 10 sorties in three days to evacuate stranded students from various parts of Gurez to Bandipora.
The official said that the entire evacuation process was a coordinated exercise between civil and Army authorities. The students were airlifted from three location of Gurez valley in 10 sorties including six sorties from Dawar and two each from Neeru and Baduaab in Tulail. Gurez valley remains cut off from the rest of the world owing to heavy snowfall and the only road link between Gurez and Bandipora remains closed for several months.
However, the operations were stopped on Friday owing to heavy snowfall in Gurez due to which 150 aspirants could not be airlifted.