Srinagar: The Kashmir Valley remained cut off from rest of the country for the third consecutive day today as the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was shut for vehicular traffic following snowfall in high altitude areas.

However, air traffic to and from the city remained unaffected, airport sources said.

The 300-km Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only surface link between Kashmir and rest of the country, remained closed for traffic for the third day today, a spokesman of traffic department said. He said no vehicle was allowed either from Srinagar or Jammu on the highway in view of heavy snowfall around Jawahar tunnel, the gateway to Kashmir.

Traffic on the arterial road was suspended on Tuesday in view of heavy accumulation of snow on the road at several places, including Banihal.

According to the Met office, 53.8 mm of snowfall equivalent to rains was recorded at Banihal while Qazigund and Batote experienced heavy snowfall of 45.2 mm and 40.0 mm respectively by 0830 hours today.

Srinagar recorded 5.2 mm of rains while famous the hill resorts of Pahalgam and Kokernag received 15.8 mm and 29.0 mm of snowfall equivalent to rains in the same period.

Source : PTI