Heavy snowfall paints Kashmir white

Normal life was on Friday thrown out of gear in Kashmir as snowfall continued intermittently for the fourth consecutive day, virtually cutting of the Valley from the rest of the country due to closure of Srinagar-Jammu national highway and suspension of air traffic.

The weather department has forecast widespread snowfall or rains over the next two days also.

The Srinagar-Jammu national highway has been closed for traffic due to bad weather, an official of the traffic department said.

He said traffic on the highway, the only all-weather road link connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, was stopped due to snowfall and rain at few places along the nearly 294-km route.

While the traffic from Srinagar was stopped at Awantipora, Anantnag and Qazigund, the traffic from Jammu towards Srinagar was stopped at Nagrota, the official said.

He said snowfall was hampering efforts to re-open the highway for traffic.

Operations at Srinagar International Airport were also suspended and all flights for the day cancelled due to snowfall, an official of the Airport Authority of India said.

In Srinagar city and other towns of the Valley, heavy snowfall began on Friday morning, affecting movement of traffic and leading to traffic jams at many places as the roads were rendered slippery.

This is the heaviest snowfall experienced in the summer capital this season.