Both Kargil courier sorties cancelled due to bad weather

Srinagar, Apr 20: Both the Kargil courier sorties to Jammu, which were planned on Tuesday have been cancelled due to bad weather.
Chief Coordinator Kargil Courier Service Er Aamir Ali said today that two sorties of AN 32 Kargil courier service between the border town of Kargil and Jammu were planned on Tuesday.
However, due to bad weather both the sorties were cancelled, Er Ali said.
In a fresh advisory, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said that all passengers shall compulsorily carry COVID-19 negative test before travelling in the aircraft.
Several thousand passengers were airlifted between Kargil and Leh in Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh, Jammu, Srinagar and Chandigarh during this winter when the national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir, remained closed since January Ist, 2021 due to accumulation of snow and avalanche.
Meanwhile, people are facing an acute shortage of essentials, including fresh vegetables in Kargil and Drass, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia, due to the continued closure of the highway.
The Beacon authorities are working on war footing to remove the snow and avalanches and put them through the highway as soon as possible. However, due to intermittent fresh snowfall in March and April, snow clearance operation was being hampered, official sources told UNI.
They said snow clearance operation this year was started in February and the highway was declared open by Beacon Chief Engineer on February 28 only to get closed again after few hours due to fresh snowfall.
Normally the road was being opened for traffic till April 15 every year. However, this time late snowfall had delayed the opening of the road resulting in a shortage of essentials in Kargil, Drass and other areas.