Kulgam: The Kund Valley in the Devsar area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district remained cut off due to snowfall on Wednesday.
The remote valley consists of 17 villages including Kund, Waltengoo, Nowbug, Warpora, Waril, Wasernag, and Nadangoh, and is around 15 km from the national highway.
Locals said that the snow had not been cleared, disrupting the traffic.
“It has been snowing intermittently since Tuesday and the snow that accumulated on the roads has only been partially cleared,” said Muhammad Sultan.
He said that the roads were slippery as a result of which vehicular movement was difficult.
The locals complained of the absence of ample snow-clearance machines in the area where it snows heavily in the winters.
“Very few snow clearance machines are operational and these are unable to clear the snow on the entire stretch,” said another villager Muhammad Yousuf.
He sought to press more machines into service in the wake of heavy snowfall prediction.
“If it continues snowing, people will face a crisis in absence of ample health and other facilities,” Yousuf said.
Locals recalled the 2005 Waltengoo avalanches which wreaked havoc in the area. Several lives were lost, livestock destroyed and property damaged during that disaster.
“Every time it snows heavily, we fear for our lives,” the locals said.
The upper areas of Kulgam – DH Pora, D K Marg, and Aharbal – also received moderate snowfall.
It was also snowing heavily in Shopian and upper areas of Pulwama.
In Anantnag, moderate snowfall was witnessed in the higher reaches of Kokernag, Kapran-Verinag, and Pahalgam.