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| Srinagar-Leh NH closed for season | | |
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 16 : The 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway has been closed due to heavy snowfall and will reopen only early next year.
It was snowing at different places on the highway from Sonmarg to Matayan today, BEACON Chief Engineer A K Bhutani said here.
He said several feet of snow had accumulated at Zojila, Baltal, Gumri, India gate, Machoi, Meenamarg and Matayan.
The road is very slippery as the temperature during the night goes down, he said, adding it will be very risky to allow any traffic on the highway.
The Chief Engineer of the BEACON, responsible for the maintenance of the highways and other roads to border areas, said the highway was to close officially from November 1. However, on the request of the state government, it was decided to allow traffic till weather permits, which remained dry till November 9 when there was first snowfall of the season.
''We managed to remove the snow and allowed stranded vehicles on both sides of the Zojila to move towards their respective destinations,'' he said.
However, since yesterday due to slippery road, no vehicle was allowed.
He said during the past few years, due to efforts of the BEACON officials and workers, the highway was reopened early in April against last week of May and first week of June in the past.
''We cannot say when the highway will reopen again as it depends on the snowfall,'' he said adding about 20 feet to 40 feet snowfall is recorded on the highway.
The highway will reopen only early next year, he said.
On the demand of the people of the Ladakh region, which remained cut off from the rest of the country by road, the state and the Centre has agreed to construct a tunnel at Zojila pass to make it all weather road.
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