Kashmir: Normal Life Disrupted For Second Day Due to Inclement Weather

Srinagar: Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir valley for the second consecutive day here on Wednesday after fresh snowfall and rains lashed the region with both air and land travel halted in view of the inclement weather.

The weather department in its fresh advisory has said that the weather conditions will likely continue while there will be a significant decrease in precipitation from today evening. There will be, however, another intense spell of heavy rain and snow from Thursday evening, a spokesperson from Metrological Department (MeT) said. Light snowfall has also been recorded in Ladakh.

The weather department has also issued a weather advisory and urged people in the upper reaches to stay indoors. “People are once again requested not to venture in the avalanche-prone area. Our data shows that most avalanches triggered during intense heavy snowfall,” the MeT spokesperson said.

He added that the weather conditions are likely to improve by the next week from January 9.

The weather conditions have also disrupted travel on the arterial Srinagar-Jammu highway as the highway traffic department has advised avoiding travel on the national highway and other link roads in Ramban district.

The air traffic at the Srinagar airport was also affected for the second consecutive day as a majority of flights were cancelled today after all flights were disrupted on Tuesday due to bad weather conditions.

“Poor visibility due to light snow prevails at our airport. Visibility has been reduced to 300 metres. But, the passengers will be accommodated in next available flight and there will be no extra charges for rescheduling,” an official of the airport said.

The official added that three flights landed at Srinagar airport today and they will operate after weather conditions improve.

All undergraduate, postgraduate and professional exams at Kashmir University and cluster university scheduled today were postponed by the university administrations. Due to inclement weather conditions, all examinations of Kashmir University scheduled for the next two days are also postponed

“The fresh dates for postponed papers will be issued separately,” controller of examinations Irshad Ahmad Nawchoo said in a statement.

Chief secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, an official statement said, has chaired a meeting to review the winter preparedness, supply, and stocking of essential commodities across the Kashmir division and snowbound districts of Jammu province including Kishtwar, Doda, Poonch, and Rajouri.