This Article is From Jan 08, 2017

Kashmir Weather: Snowfall-Hit Jammu-Srinagar Highway Leaves Vehicles Stranded, Upsets Tourists

Jammu-Srinagar national highway has been shut due to heavy snowfall and landslides for the last two days

Srinagar: The Jammu-Srinagar national highway has been shut due to heavy snowfall and landslides for the last two days with 1,000 vehicles, including 800 trucks and 200 passenger vehicles, being stuck due to heavy traffic.

The trucks carrying essential goods to Kashmir valley haven't moved an inch in the last two days. Most truck drivers are camping on the road, desperately waiting for the highway to reopen.

Ghulam Rasool, who was to deliver a consignment of sheep, is getting impatient. He's started making distress sales.

"We have no option but to make distress sales, we had sent the consignment of sheep to Kashmir, but are stuck on road. It's better to sell each sheep for a Rs 1000 or Rs 2000 instead of Rs 10,000...they will die here," Mr Rasool said.

Most of the passenger vehicles are stuck at Patnitop, a hill station along the highway where it has been snowing incessantly.

With a large number of tourists in the state at this time of the year, travel plans of people have been thrown off-track as roads, covered by a layer of snow, have become slippery.

A group of tourists from Bihar were forced to cancel their Kashmir tour.

"We wanted to go to Kashmir, we were going to enjoy the snow, but if we can't do that, then naturally we will be disappointed," said Rajeev from Bihar.

The weather has not improved much in the last couple of days and chances of the highway reopening soon are bleak. However, as and when the situation gets better, clearing the major traffic mess would top the list of priorities in order to bring the state back to normal.
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