Karnah road reopens; dozens of far-flung, remote areas remain cut off in Kashmir

Srinagar, Jan 18: Traffic on Kupwara road to Karnah, a border town in north Kashmir, was resumed after remaining closed for over a week due to heavy snowfall.

However, dozens of far-flung and remote areas, including those near the Line of Control (LoC), remained cut off for the ninth successive day from their respective districts and tehsil headquarters in Kashmir due to slippery road conditions following heavy snowfall.

“We have restored two-way traffic with some restrictions on Kupwara-Karnah road on Friday after remaining closed for seven days due to heavy snowfall,” a Police Control Room (PCR) official told UNI over the phone from Kupwara.

He said traffic is being allowed to ply from Karnah to Kupwara in the morning till 1000 hrs and from Kupwara to Karnah in the afternoon from 1500 hrs.

Official sources said that dozens of roads, including border towns of Keran, Karnah, Machil, Tanghdar and Gurez, were closed following intermittent moderate to heavy snowfall since last week.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of Kupwara-Karnah road, pressed into service sophisticated machines and men and restored traffic to the remote border town on Thursday evening. But, on Thursday traffic was only allowed from Karnah to Kupwara.

“All the stranded passengers in Kupwara will leave for Karnah in the afternoon,” the PCR official said.

However, he said roads to Machil and Keran remained closed, following intermittent very heavy snowfall since last week. "Similarly, dozens of far-flung and remote areas, including those near LoC, remained cut off due to snow," he added.

The border town of Gurez, which is surrounded by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) from three sides, besides Neeru and dozens of other villages also remained cut off from district headquarters Bandipora since last Friday evening due to accumulation of snow and slippery road conditions. There is also forecast for fresh snowfall from Friday onwards.

A PCR official told TNN over the phone from Bandipora that it is highly unlikely that the road will again be put through for traffic during winter months. “Huge snow has accumulated on the road, particularly at Razdan pass and the clearance operation has become very tough as the snow has become very hard due to mercury dropping several degrees below freezing point,” he said.