State Times News
Srinagar: After remaining cut off for two days due to heavy snowfall, Kashmir Valley was on Sunday connected with the rest of the country as air-traffic resumed here and the highway was partially re-opened for traffic.
“Air traffic at Srinagar Airport resumed on Sunday as flights were able to land and then take-off following improvement in the weather,” an airport official said.
Flight operations to and fro Srinagar remained suspended for the last two days due to heavy snowfall which also led to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
The nearly 300-km arterial Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was cleared off the snow and the debris left behind by landslides at few places and those vehicles which were stranded, due to the closure of the only all-weather road-link connecting the Valley with the rest of the country, were allowed to proceed towards Srinagar.
“The stranded vehicles have been allowed to proceed towards Srinagar after the highway was cleared following improvement in the weather,” an official of the Traffic Department said.
He said if the weather permits, traffic would be allowed on the highway tomorrow.
Life was thrown out of gear in Kashmir Valley on Friday due to heavy snowfall which continued at some places yesterday as well.
During the last 24 hours, Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded 10 cm of snow.
Other places which received snowfall during the last 24 hours were Gulmarg and Kokernag. Some other places received rains, a spokesman of the MeT Office here said.
He said Leh, in Ladakh region, was the coldest recorded place in the state as the mercury there dipped nearly four notches to minus 8.0 degrees Celsius. Leh was closely followed by the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg where the minimum temperature settled at minus 7.6 degrees Celsius.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, while Srinagar city, the summer capital of J-K, and Qazigund recorded the minimum temperature of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius.
The weatherman has forecast light rains or snow at some places over the state over the next 24 hours, after which the weather is expected to remain mainly dry for the next few days.
Meanwhile,airfares from Srinagar have increased manifold as airlines cancelled flights to the summer capital due to heavy snowfall, forcing flyers to book fresh tickets at the jacked up fares.
A random check of airfares of different airlines from Srinagar to Delhi suggested that the spot fare was hovering around Rs 16,000. Normal fare between the two destinations is around Rs 5,000.
Voicing concern over the massive increase in airfares former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “The airlines should be forced to honour previous bookings when flights resume instead they get away with refunding the original amount (sic).”
“Tickets between Srinagar & Delhi are being offered by ‘low cost airlines’ at between Rs 25,000 & Rs 30,000 while the highway remains closed.
“Thus forcing people who had originally spent Rs 5-6000 on a ticket to spend Rs 25-30,000. This is nothing but day light robbery,” he said in a series of tweets. According to Air India website, the airfares for its flight from Srinagar to Delhi for Tuesday is Rs 16,007, whereas a Jet Airways ticket for Wednesday was pegged at Rs 17,684.
According to IndiGo website, the airfares for its flight from Srinagar to Delhi for Sunday is Rs 12,109.