Early Times Report
srinagar, Mar 16: Hundreds of passengers, including tourists, were stranded after all scheduled flights operating to and from Srinagar international airport remained cancelled today due to bad weather.
"All the 14 flights scheduled for the day were cancelled due to bad weather," an official of Airport Authority of India, which operates the airport, said.
Kashmir valley including summer capital Srinagar experienced fresh snowfall since this morning, forcing closure of nearly 300-km long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway - the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country.
In view of the continued snowfall, no flight could operate even as authorities pressed men and machinery to clear and maintain the runway.
Hundreds of passengers including dozens of tourists who were scheduled to fly out had to return disappointed after getting information about cancellation of all scheduled flights despite waiting for hours at the airport.
There has been heavy rush of passengers at the airport in view of the closure of the only all weather road between the valley and rest of the country.
The airport official said if weather permits, additional flights would be made available tomorrow to meet the heavy rush of the passengers.
"We will try to arrange more flights to meet the heavy rush of passengers," he said. |
