Unseasonal snowfall creates chaos and confusion Water logging, inundation, non-motorable roads puts life out of gear Srinagar, March 11, CNS: The unseasonal snowfall has disrupted life all across Kashmir Valley with people spending time without electricity while the inundation and snow filled lanes and bye-lanes have become of source of heavy inconvenience for the people. Almost all the parts of Kashmir including summer capital Srinagar received heavy snowfall while the MeT department has forecast rain or snowfall in most parts of Kashmir over the next 24 hours. According to CNS, authorities shut down entire power supplies to the valley, including the summer capital of Srinagar, on Monday night for fear of damage to human life. Large number of trees have been uprooted, blocking roads and getting entangled in transmission lines. As a result, there was no power supply in any part of the valley on Tuesday. Reports said at a number of places, electric poles were uprooted and at scores of places, due to uprooting of transmission lines on the onset of snowfall became of the cause of the death of several stray dogs. In summer capital Srinagar there was chaos and confusion everywhere. Most of the main roads during early hours were not motorable while snow cleared machines appeared on different roads only after noon. Business was affected badly due to heavy snowfall while most of the shops and business establishments remained closed. There was thin attendance of employees in government offices. People from different areas of Srinagar city complained that no Power Development Department official or employees visited their areas to repair the transmission lines that were lying on the lanes and bye-lanes of the Srinagar city. “During the dead of the night an HT wire felt down on ground resulting in the death of two stray-dogs. No PDD employee visited the area to repair the wire. Though we called on the help line number provided by district administration but nothing was done,” a resident from Iqbal Colony Mehjoor Nagar told CNS on phone. Whole Srinagar city was reeling under darkness till evening. Reports said that there was no electricity in other parts of Kashmir Valley while authorities said that they were on job to restore the power supply. “We are on job but the continuous snowfall is making things worse,” a administrative official told CNS. Meanwhile, major power crisis hits North Kashmir. Three pylons of 220 KV Wagora-Budgam-Zainakoot transmission line was uprooted at Zoorigund village near Budgam. The break down hit 75 percent of North Kashmir. Reports said whole of North Kashmir is reeling under darkness from Monday evening. When contacted Chief Engineer System Operation Kashmir, Gul Ayaz told CNS that they are on job and hopefully the electricity would be restored in the nick of the time. As a result of the power break down, the patients in different district hospitals faced lot of inconvenience. Due to disruption of life, All Kashmir University exams including the PG-entrance examinations 2014 that were scheduled to be held on Tuesday were postponed. University officials said all exams till March 13 were postponed and fresh dates for the postponed papers shall be notified separately. All schools in Kashmir Valley including primary, middle, high and higher secondary remained closed on Tuesday while in view of inclement weather, official sources told CNS that all schools shall remain closed till Wednesday (March 12). The snowfall led to closure of the 294-km Srinagar-Jammu highway, the only all weather road link between the valley and rest of the country, a traffic department official said. He said the ongoing snowfall was hampering the road clearance operations. An official of the airport authority of India said no flight has been able to arrive at Srinagar airport since this morning due to the snowfall. No flights have been cancelled so far but if it continues to snow, the chances of any flights arriving here are bleak, he added. Traffic Department suspended traffic movement on Srinagar Jammu highway due to heavy landslides and shooting stones at Panthal, Battery Chashema (Anokhifall) and heavy snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel sector either side. Superintendent of Police (National Highway) Dr. Haseeb Mughal CNS that all sorts of traffic on NHW stands suspended. “No Traffic movement is allowed from either side till further orders,” he said adding that for any inquiry regarding the movement of traffic on Srinagar-Jammu highway, people could contact Traffic Control Unit (TCU) Srinagar 0194-2450022 and TCU Jammu 0191-2459048. He further said there was no chance of restoration of traffic on the highway till Wednesday afternoon. He said that he also opened a page ‘Highway Traffic Police’ on Facebook which was being updated every half-an-hour with the latest status of the highway. Reports said that train service was also shut due to snowfall. Reports said that heavy snowfall was reported from all parts of Kashmir Valley. Ski-resort Gulmarg witnessed 4 feet of snowfall, Sonamarag 3.5 feet, Zojilla 4.5 feet, Srinagar one foot, Kangan 10 inches, Gund 1.5 feet, Anantnag 10 inches, Pahalgam 2 feet, Damhal Hanjipora, Nuhama, Manzgam, Aharbal, CR Pora, Sarmarag, Badyjallan, Kandimarag1.5 to 3.5 feet, Baramullah 2 foot, Handwara 1.5 feet, Kupwara 2 feet, Bandipora 2 feet, Budgam 2 feet, Ganderbal 1foot, Sopore 1.5 feet, Jawahar Tunnel 2 feet, Dooru Qazigund Verinag, Kapran, Kund, Devsar, Branel Lamad, Akal, Pahloo, Malwan, Banimullah received snowfall from one to two feet, Kulgam, Yaripora, Khudwani, Ashmuji 6 inches to one feet. At Guder hamlet of Kulgam town a residential house of Ghulam Ahmed was destroyed due to heavy snowfall. Reports of damages to property have also poured from different parts of Kashmir Valley. (CNS)
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:29:56 +0000
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