Tuesday, November 29 2005 14:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Srinagar: The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the only road connecting Kashmir valley to the rest of the country, was closed for vehicular traffic following heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir for the third day today (Nov 29, 2005).

About one feet of snow had accumulated on the 300-km long highway between Qazigund to Jawahar Tunnel - the gateway to Kashmir valley - forcing authorities to suspend vehicular traffic on the vital road this morning, official sources said.

Continuous snowfall was hampering efforts of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains the arterial road.

However, efforts are on to make the road motor able. The high altitude areas of Kashmir valley experienced the season's first heavy snowfall over the past few days signalling the advent of a harsh winter.

Many areas, including the quake-hit Tangdhar sector in Kupwara district and Leh and Kargil districts were cut off by the fresh snowfall ranging between two to three feet.

Sadhna Pass, enroute to Tanghdar, which usually remains cut off from rest of the valley during winter, experienced over three feet of snow.

This has dealt a severe blow to the efforts of early rehabilitation of the survivors of the October 8 killer earthquake, which flattened a number of areas including Teetwal, Keran and Karnah near the Line of Control (LoC).

While snowfall has compounded the problems of the people residing in the quake-hit areas, there was good news for winter sports lovers as the world famous ski resort of Gulmarg was covered under the snow blanket.

It was snowing heavily in the famous health resort and its periphery, the sources said adding the snowfall led to the closure of Gulmarg-Baba Reshi road yesterday(Nov 29, 2005).