The Srinagar-Jammu highway was thrown open for traffic on Sunday after six days of its closure, much to the respite of both intending as well as the stranded commuters.
The 270-km-long highway—the only surface link of Kashmir with rest of the world—was closed on January 21 following heavy snowfall in the Jawahar tunnel area and multiple landslides triggered by incessant rains between Banihal and Ramban areas over the past one week.
“The road has been opened and stranded traffic cleared,” superintendent of traffic police (rural) Muzaffar Ahmad Shah told Greater Kashmir.
Hundreds of vehicles arrived in Kashmir after travelling on the road safely, he said, adding that subject to fair weather and good condition of the road, traffic would move from Jammu towards Srinagar on Monday.
Shah said a fresh landslide hit the highway near Anokhi Fall on Sunday morning, but it was swiftly cleared.
A massive avalanche had struck the highway on past Tuesday, blocking both tubes of the Jawahar tunnel on Qazigund side.
The stranded passengers had held demonstrations in Jammu and Udhampur over the past couple of days against the administration’s alleged failure to make necessary arrangements for their stay. They had demanded their airlifting to Srinagar.
Meanwhile, a meteorological department official said that owing to clear skies, cold wave intensified across Kashmir as the mercury stayed several notches below the freezing point at all weather stations in the Valley on Sunday.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar Saturday night settled at minus 1.4 degree Celsius, slightly up from minus 1.8 degree Celsius the previous night.
Qazigund, the gateway town to the Valley, recorded a low of minus 6.6 degree Celsius, a dip of over three degrees from the previous night’s minus 3.2 degree Celsius, he said.
The nearby Kokernag town registered a low of minus 6.9 degree Celsius last night, almost same as minus 6.8 degree Celsius the previous night.
The mercury in Kupwara town in northern Kashmir dipped to minus 6.5 degree Celsius, compared to previous night’s low of minus 2.6 degree Celsius, the official said.
The ski-resort of Gulmarg in northern Kashmir recorded a low of minus 12 degree Celsius Saturday, a rise of two degrees over the previous night’s temperature there.
The tourist resort of Pahalgam in southern Kashmir recorded a low of minus 13 degree Celsius, he said.
Leh town recorded a low of 15.5 degree Celsius, a rise of one degree over previous night. The mercury in nearby Kargil town settled at a low of minus 20.7 degree Celsius and was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir.
The night temperature in most parts of the Jammu division marked an improvement, with the city recording a low of 4.1 degree Celsius compared to the previous night’s 3.7 degree Celsius.
The snow-bound Bhaderwah town in Doda district was the coldest recorded place in the region with a low of minus 3.4 degree Celsius, he said.
(With PTI inputs)