Kupwara, Feb 19: With widespread snowfall on Monday across north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, several areas remained cutoff from district headquarters throwing life out of gear.
The snowfall which began early Monday morning continued till late evening with around 8 to 9 inches snow getting accumulated in plains while 1 foot to 2 feet snow recorded in upper reaches.
Due to the accumulation of over a foot fresh snow in the upper reaches, the administration, as a precautionary measure, suspended traffic on the Kupwara-Karnah, Kapwara-Machil, Kupwara-Keran, and Kralpora-Budnamal roads.
The business establishments and transport remained by and large off the roads with minimum movement of people and less percentage of government employees in offices.
A residential house was damaged in Chontiwari Balla area of Machil sector, however, no loss of life or injury to anyone was reported in the incident.
The house belonged to Ghulam Muhammad Shiekh, son Abdul Rehman Shiekh.
A rooftop of a bakery shop at Handwara main town was also damaged due to snowfall. Several trees fell on roads, resulting in disruption of traffic.
A tree fell on the Srinagar-Kupwara highway near Natnussa due to which traffic movement was disrupted for some time.
Later, the authorities swung into action and cleared the road. A tree also fell on Geeripora road, affecting the vehicle movement. Later Police and members of civil society Geeripora cleared the road following which traffic movement was restored.
The snowfall also caused widespread power and drinking water disruption. People from several areas said that the non-clearance of snow from roads had left them cutoff from the district headquarters.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kupwara, Ayushi Sudan said that all snow clearance machines of PMGSY, R&B, and Mechanical Department had been deployed to clear the roads.
“We have cleared all the main roads but the continuous accumulation of snow has made things difficult. Men and machinery are on the job to clear the roads,” she said.
About the restoration of electric supply, Sudan said that due to a major fault, electricity had got affected in the district. “However, restoration work on all feeders is going. Hopefully, electricity will be restored by evening,” she said.
Executive Engineer Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department, Handwara Division, Farooq Ahmad Shah told Greater Kashmir that almost 48 km were cleared of snow in the entire Handwara division.
He said that the snow clearance operation was being carried out in the entire sub district.