Srinagar:
With the cold wave hitting northern India, normal life has just frozen. Trucks carrying supplies to Kashmir haven't moved a bit in the past three days because the Jammu-Srinagar highway that connects the Valley with the rest of India is closed due to heavy snowfall and landslides.
Heavy snowfall over the last two days has also plunged the Valley into darkness. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has assured that the power supply to the region would be restored by Monday.
It has snowed heavily at Patnitop, a hill station along the highway where most passenger vehicles are stuck. Most people are camping here, desperately waiting for the highway to reopen.
"There are no arrangements from the government or any other agency for the stranded passengers," said one of the stranded tourists.
Huge mounds of snow have blocked the roads, and at places the road is slippery due to a layer of ice. All this has upset the travel plans of tourists. Mr Abdullah said the snow clearance on Srinagar-Jammu national highway is also in full swing and the 294-km road is likely to reopen for one-way traffic by Monday evening.
"We will never come to Jammu Kashmir during this season, we could barely save ourselves from this heavy snow," said Rajnath Pal, a tourist.
The clearing work is going on from both sides, but the problem areas are Jawahar tunnel and Patnitop. In the last 24 hours many places have experienced snowfall for the first time like Nurpur in Himachal Pradesh, the higher reaches of Damtal in Punjab that borders Himachal Pradesh Kangra and Dharmasala received snowfall after many years.