Air, road traffic restored in J&K as weather improves

There was moderate to heavy snowfall across Kashmir on the last day of Valley’s harshest 40-day winter period of Chillai Kalan on Monday, which had prompted suspension of flights at the Srinagar airport and train services between Banihal and Baramulla

With the improvement in weather conditions in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, authorities resumed air and train services in Kashmir valley while traffic movement on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was also restored in the evening.

A man rows his boat on Dal Lake in Srinagar on Tuesday. (Waseem Andrabi/HT)

There was moderate to heavy snowfall across Kashmir on the last day of Valley’s harshest 40-day winter period of Chillai Kalan on Monday, which had prompted suspension of flights at the Srinagar airport and train services between Banihal and Baramulla. The highway was closed for vehicular traffic since Monday morning following mudslides and shooting stones at Cafeteria Morh, Panthyal, Magarkote and other stretches between Chanderkote and Banihal following heavy rains in the area.

“Flight operations have resumed. The visibility is very good and all passengers are resuming their travel plans,” said Srinagar airport director Kuldeep Singh Rishi.

A senior police officer said, “Around 5pm on Tuesday, traffic movement was restored on the highway in Ramban district. Though the road is still slippery and there are intermittent shooting stones at Panthyal, we are cautiously allowing light motor vehicles from Qazigund and Banihal.” Ramban deputy magistrate Mussarat Islam said stranded vehicles have started moving on National Highway-44 between Banihal and Nashri.

“The weather remained foggy in Kashmir but was mainly clear in the Jammu region,” said MeT director Sonam Lotus.

He said that the weather was very likely to remain dry for the next five days except light rainfall or snowfall at isolated places on February 5. “There is no forecast of any major snowfall in J&K and Ladakh for next two weeks,” he added.

The MeT director said that they expect fog development in plains of Jammu and Kashmir from Wednesday. “Expect warmer days and colder nights in both UTs (J&K and Ladakh) in the next few days,” he further said.

On Monday, the authorities had cancelled all 68 flights due to low visibility and continuous snowfall.

“The passengers who had missed their flights due to cancellation on Monday are also being accommodated today without any extra charges,” the airport director said.

The minimum temperature in Srinagar improved to zero degrees on Monday night from previous night’s -0.2°C.

The MeT update said that the southern resort of Pahalgam in Anantnag witnessed -4.7°C while it was -8.4°C in the ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla.

North Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara near the Line of Control and south Kashmir’s Kokernag witnessed -0.8°C while it was -1.2°C in Pampore’s Konibal.

Jammu division’s three of six weather stations -- Bhaderwah, Batote and Banihal -- witnessed low temperatures of 0.2°C, -0.5°C and -0.4°C, respectively. Jammu city witnessed 7.1°C while it was 8.4°C in Kathua.