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Srinagar-Leh national highway opened after 2 weeks
The 430-km mountainous road that connects the Himalayan Valley with the Ladakh region was made motorable on Monday after snowfall on January 28 had closed the Zojila Pass, which is at an altitude of 11,516 feet, and called the Kashmir’s gateway to Leh
The Srinagar-Leh highway has been opened for traffic after closure of around two weeks, officials said on Tuesday. The strategic highway generally remains closed at its highest Zojila Pass for weeks to months every winter.
The 430-km mountainous road that connects the Himalayan Valley with the Ladakh region was made motorable on Monday after snowfall on January 28 had closed the Zojila Pass, which is at an altitude of 11,516 feet, and called the Kashmir’s gateway to Leh.
Officials said that some 37 vehicles from both sides crossed the pass and were travelling between Ladakh’s Kargil and Sonamarg in central Kashmir.
“The highway was opened on an emergency basis owing to stranded passengers, most of whom were students of Ladakh. Today as well, vehicles from Kargil crossed the pass,” said senior superintendent of police (SSP traffic rural) Ravinder Pal Singh. “So far, neither any loaded trucks, nor any other vehicles traversed the road,” he said.
The SSP cautioned that there was a prediction of snowfall from February 18, which may block the highway again.
Between January 28 and February 3, J&K and Ladakh received widespread snowfall and rain, which had affected life across the Valley and disrupted air and road traffic.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil, chairperson Mohd Jaffer Akhoon expressed gratitude to all the stakeholders for the resumption of vehicular movement on Zojila Pass.
He said that they had to send 10 vehicles on Monday from Kargil to Sonamarg to bring their passengers home. “The taxis from Srinagar were not ready to come, so to bring our passengers home, we sent 10 vehicles to Sonamarg. In all, 37 vehicles passed with over 160 passengers,” he said.
Another sunny day in Valley
Kashmir witnessed another sunny day on Tuesday with summer capital Srinagar recording a maximum temperature of 15.5 degrees Celsius, about six notches above normal.
The meteorological centre in Srinagar said in an update that the minimum temperature in the capital city on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday was minus 2.5 degrees Celsius against a normal of 0.2 degrees Celsius.
While the day temperatures are increasing, the night temperatures are improving across the Valley. The warmest place in the Valley was northern district of Kupwara at 16 degrees Celsius. Mercury touched a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius in Kupwara.
The southern Pahalgam tourist resort was coldest during the night at minus 5.4 degrees Celsius, up from minus 7 degrees Celsius. The maximum in the tourist resort was 11.1 degrees Celsius.
The ski resort of Gulmarg in the north recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.5 degrees Celsius during the night and the day was relatively cold at 7.4 degrees Celsius. The minimum in Qazigund in south Kashmir was minus 1.2 degrees Celsius and the maximum was 14.9 degrees Celsius.
The meteorological centre said that the southern area of Kokernag observed a minimum of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 12.4 degrees Celsius.
The centre predicted another western disturbance approaching J&K, which is expected to bring snowfall and rains across the Union Territory from February 18.
The Valley is passing through the second and moderate phase of winter, Chilla-i-Khurd, after the harshest 40-day period, Chilla-i-Kalan, ended on January 29 with warm and dry days.
