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| Srinagar-Leh highway remain closed, airfare goes up | | |
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 29: Traffic remained suspended for the third day on Friday on 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the airfare between Leh to Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar witnessed considerable rise during the past few weeks.
Ladakh region remained cut off during winter due to heavy snowfall and air link is the only way to reach there.
The highway was put through after six days only on Tuesday when majority stranded vehicles were cleared.
No traffic was allowed on Friday on the highway due to fresh snowfall and avalanche, a traffic police official told. He said there was several feet of fresh snowfall at Sonamarg and Zojila pass besides at Meenmarg and Drass, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia on Wednesday.
He said besides fresh snowfall, the road has become slippery following below freezing temperature, due to which traffic remained suspended from both sides.
Traffic will be allowed only after clearance of snow and improvement in the weather, he said.
He appealed to people to undertake the journey on the highway only after getting latest report about the road condition from police and other agencies.
The highway, the only road connecting UT Ladakh with Kashmir, used to remain closed for six months during winter due to below freezing temperature and accumulation of snow since November 1 every year.
However, for the past few years due to efforts of the local administration and different agencies of Border Roads Organisation (BRO), highway now remains open in the month of December also till there is heavy snowfall.
Earlier, before the division of the state into two UTs the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, was taking decision to close the highway for winter months. However, since Ladakh has now become an independent UT, decision to close or reopen the highway will have to be taken by administration of UT Ladakh and Kashmir. Officials said that there is less chance of reopening of the highway as more than five to six feet of snow has accumulated at several places and there is also threat of avalanches. |
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