Kashmir Valley remains cut-off from country for second day

SRINAGAR: The Kashmir Valley remained cut-off from rest of the country for the second consecutive day today, but improvement in weather has raised hopes of early restoration of traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

"The National Highway is still closed but work is going on to clear the road of the snow at the earliest," Aamir Ali, coordinator of Natural Disaster Management Cell, told PTI.

The 294-km arterial highway, the only all weather road link between the Valley and rest of the country, was closed yesterday following heavy snowfall on either side of the Pir Panjal range in south Kashmir.

"The weather has improved and we are hopeful that the road will be restored for clearing the stranded vehicles very soon," Ali said.

Meanwhile, there was a slight improvement in the night temperature across Kashmir division with Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recording a minimum of 1.4 deg C, a spokesman of the MeT office said.

Gulmarg ski resort in north Kashmir's Baramulla district was the coldest place in the Valley, recording a minimum of minus 4.7 deg C, the spokesman said. He said Leh was the coldest place in the Kashmir division where mercury dipped to minus 10 deg C last night while nearby Kargil district recorded a low of minus 6.2 deg C.