Snowfall cripples life across Kashmir
Flights cancelled, Highway blocked
Srinagar: Life was thrown out of gear in Kashmir on Wednesday as most areas of the valley received snowfall – the season’s first heavy fall in the plains – disrupting flight and railway operations and leading to the closure of the vital Srinagar-Jammu national highway, officials here said.
The fresh snowfall also resulted in damages to various houses besides the power infrastructure plunging most parts of the valley into darkness. However, electricity was being restored on war footing, officials said.
Most areas of the valley received moderate to heavy snowfall which started in the night and continued till late afternoon, they said.
The areas in the higher reaches of the Union Territory received very heavy snowfall — around two feet or more, they said.
The officials said Srinagar – the summer capital of the union territory – recorded about eight inches of snow till Wednesday afternoon.
The Meteorological department has said that a gradual decrease in rain and snow is expected from Wednesday afternoon, and there would be a significant improvement in the weather evening onwards.
Overall improvement is most likely from Thursday onwards. After this spell, there is no forecast of any major rain/snow till the end of this month, the Met office said.
The authorities have appealed to people to not move out of their homes unless absolutely necessary.
Snow clearance machines of MED (mechanical engineering department) and other departments are clearing the snow mechanically and manually from the main roads since early morning, but due to continuous snowfall, the roads are very slippery and there are chances of accidents, the authorities said in an advisory.
Power goes off
The overnight snowfall across Kashmir plunged the entire valley into darkness as power infrastructure suffered almost 70 per cent damage.
Managing Director of Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL), Dr. Basharat Qayoom said that the electricity load plummeted this morning after heavy snowfall across the Valley as it caused extensive damage not only to the sub transmission distribution, but the transmission lines as well as the grid stations were also affected.
“Soon after the load plummeted, the men and machinery were pressed into the services to ensure early restoration of electricity and by this time, KPDCL has been in a position to build the load back to over 900MWs,” he said.
“We are about to touch 1000 MegWatts and the KPDCL is trying its best to push it to 1000 plus by this evening,” MD further said.
About damage caused by heavy snowfall, Dr. Basharata Qayoom stated that “If we go by the feeder outage, the damage was nearly 70 per cent. Our average load is 1550 MWs. We will be trying to complete the restoration process by tomorrow afternoon except for Kulgam where there is an issue of transmission towers.”
Pertinently, the majority of areas across Kashmir remained without electricity till evening due to the damage caused by heavy snowfall, resulting in sufferings to the people.
Moreover, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, P K Pole while talking to media persons said that 20 to 25 percent power lines have been affected due to snowfall. He said the divisional administration is working to restore electricity to the affected areas by evening.
In a tweet, KPDCL has stated that the electricity load has reached 934MWs. “With concerted efforts of KPDCL and @JkptclK valley load has reached 934MW, restoration activities are on since early morning,” Kashmir Power DISCOM tweeted.
In a separate tweet, the department has stated that the electricity restoration in Kulgam district will take a few days as two towers of 132 KV Mirbazar Kulgam transmission line feeding Grid station Kulgam collapsed.
“Two towers of 132 KV Mirbazar kulgam transmission line feeding Grid station Kulgam got collapsed due to heavy snowfall , power supply to Entire kulgam district shall remain effected for few days . Inconvenience regretted,” Kashmir Power DISCOM tweeted.
Notably, Kashmir Power DISCOM shared the pictures and videos of its employees, who were seen restoring the electricity in different parts of Kashmir.
One of the officials was seen wading through freezing-cold water, to restore a snapped conductor at Narbal. A video of his hectic efforts were also shared on the official twitter handle of Kashmir Power DICSOM.
Flights Cancelled, traffic disrupted
As many as 41 flights to and fro Srinagar international airport were cancelled while the major roads including Srinagar-Jammu highway was kept closed for the vehicular movement.
However, the local weatherman here has predicted gradual improvement in weather conditions from tomorrow and forecast no major wet spell till the end of February month.
Kashmir Valley received the first major snowfall of this winter season since last evening, bringing the normal life to standstill as both—air as well as the surface traffic remained affected throughout the day.
Director Srinagar International Airport, Kuldeep Singh said that 41 flights scheduled to and fro Srinagar, have been cancelled today.
He said that all the flights of all airlines have been cancelled while the passengers will be adjusted in the forthcoming flights in the next available openings.
Moreover, all the major roads including the Srinagar-Jammu highway remained closed for the traffic due to fresh snowfall since last evening.
The men and machinery have, however, been pressed to clear the roads, but the operation continued till late hours as the intermittent snowfall continued till later afternoon.
The decision to close the roads for traffic was taken as a precautionary measure due to the slippery conditions triggered by fresh snowfall.
As per an official statement, the vehicular movement on Jammu-Srinagar highway will remain suspended tomorrow due to huge landslide at Cafeteria Morh, continuous shooting stones at many places between Ramban and Banihal and snow accumulation between NAVYUG tunnel and Qazigund.
The officials appealed to people not to undertake any journey on Jammu-Srinagar highway tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the other roads including Mughal Road, SSG road andKishtwar-Sinthan Road were also closed for vehicular movement in view of snow accumulation.
Notably, train service between Baramulla and Banihal was suspended Wednesday morning due to the accumulation of snow on the railway tracks, the officials said.
House boats, Shikaras sink
At least six houseboats in Dal Lake and one at Chinar Bagh were submerged after the fresh downpour.
Officials said that six houseboats including HB New Simla, HB Honey Moon, HB Bangkok, HB Young Marmandie, HB Holly Wood and HB Kings Throne got submerged at Dal Lake.
They said that a houseboat at Chinar Bagh belonging to Fayaz Ahmad Darma, son of Abdul Aziz Darma of Chinar Bagh was partially submerged.
Moreover, several Shikaras got submerged at the world famous Dal Lake amid heavy snowfall in Srinagar in the early morning hours.
Reports said that at least half a dozen Shikaras got submerged at Dal Lake due to heavy snowfall.
In the incident, no loss of life or injury has been reported, they said, adding that the locals as well as officials are on job to dewater the Shikaras.
Moreover, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad toured Dal Lake areas here to oversee the damages caused to the houseboats and Shikaras due to overnight snowfall.
The Deputy Commissioner, who was accompanied by, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Dr Syed Haneef Balkhi visited Dal Lake areas via motor boat to inspect the houseboats and Shikaras, which sank due to snowfall during the intervening night.
On the occasion, the DC directed the Revenue officials to assess the damages and furnish the details at an earliest.
Asad assured the affected house-boat owners and Shikara walas that all possible assistance will be extended to them from the Administration/SDRF Team.
Six people go missing, houses damaged
At least six persons on their way home to remote Warwan area of Kishtwar via Margan Top in Anantnag district have gone missing and their whereabouts are not known since they made their last call to family members almost 24 hours, officials said Wednesday.
Official sources said that amid fresh snowfall, six persons had started journey by foot through Margan top, a high mountain pass which connects Warwan Valley in Kishtwar district with the Anantnag district.
“It has been around 24 hours since they made their last call from Margan Top but haven’t reached their respective homes till now,” the officials said.
When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Anantnag said that administration was in touch with DC Kishtwar and Army authorities.
“As per the information these people belong to Warwan area and were moving on foot from Anantnag towards Kishtwar side,” he said.
Source said that army’s 19 RR Army attempted to search and rescue them but could not find any trace.
Meanwhile, two residential house, three vehicles and Overhead Equipment (OHE) wire were damaged due to overnight snowfall.
Sources said that a tower of Power Department Development (PDD) collapsed at village Balhama at Khrew near J&K Bank, resulting in damage to two vehicles which includes tipper dumper bearing registration number (JK02AP-2513) and a platform vehicle bearing registration number (JK02AL-1648).
In another incident, a branch of Chinar tree fell on Endeveour vehicle bearing registration number (PB 29F 0474) at Kadipora Anantnag due to heavy snowfall, causing damage to the vehicle.
Similarly, in Padibal area of Tral, a residential house of Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, son of Habibullah Sheikh and residential house of Manzoor Ahmad Gojree resident of Chatterhama Hazratbal got partially damaged early in the morning due to snowfall.
“An OHE wire of Railway department was damaged at railway track Kakapora,” Railway official said.
“The section Railway administration is on job to clear the track,” he said.
Exams postponed
Following the heavy snowfall in Kashmir valley, several universities on Wednesday postponed all examinations that were scheduled to be held on February 23 and 24.
University of Kashmir (KU) and Cluster University Srinagar (CUS) has postponed all the exams that were slated for Wednesday and Thursday.
Besides, KU also postponed the exams of posts for Assistant Registrar.
“Due to inclement weather conditions, the main examination for the posts of Assistant Registrar at KU that was scheduled to be held on 24-02-2022 has been postponed. A fresh date for conducting the said examination will be issued separately,” KU officials said.
Meanwhile, the University of Kashmir has postponed all Undergraduate and Postgraduate Professional examinations that were scheduled to be held on February 23 and 24.
Controller of Examinations Dr Majid Zaman said fresh dates for the postponed papers will be notified separately.
Likewise, Cluster University Srinagar officials said, “All the examinations scheduled on 23rd February, 2022 have been postponed due to inclement weather. Fresh dates for postponed papers shall be notified separately.”
Central University of Kashmir official said, “All end semester examinations schedule for today February-24-2022 have been postponed due to inclement weather conditions.
