Category: Union Territory

After fresh snowfall in the Valley on Friday, which blocked roads and air traffic, the whole region witnessed power cuts more than usual as the wires faced faults at many places due to inclement weather conditions.

In Srinagar, where more than six inches of snow had gathered, most areas were without electricity till late afternoon. In some areas, residents said while the electricity supply was briefly restored, there were frequent cuts.

“The electricity supply was affected briefly and has been restored in most of the places,” an official said.

After the onset of harsh winters, the electricity supply has been impacted in the Valley as there has been an addition to the outages schedule. The residents have been complaining that there are unscheduled power cuts.

“Since morning there has been no electricity and in the cold it is very difficult to manage without power,” said Subaya Shameem, a resident of North Kashmir’s Baramulla.

During the season’s first snowfall in the first week of November, the electricity supply was affected for more than five days and commercial hub Lal Chowk in Srinagar reeled under the darkness for three days. The residents have been expressing their outrage as the demand of electricity increases in the harsh winters.

“The government is not doing anything to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to people like it is being provided in other places. No initiative has been taken and it is making the residents suffer,” said Nazir Ahmad, a resident of Pulwama.

Officials said the areas where there had been faults in the transformers and wires due to snowfall, the supplies would be restored soon.

SRINAGAR – Heavy snowfall forced closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and suspension of air traffic to Kashmir on Friday, officials said.

The snowfall, which began in the early hours of the day, resulted in accumulation of snow on both sides of the Jawahar Tunnel on the highway, a traffic department official said.

Srinagar: In a welcome gesture from the Sikh community, Gurdwara Damdama Sahib, established in 1947 and located along the Srinagar-Baramulla road, is going to be shifted to facilitate the construction of National Highway following an agreement on Thursday between the gurdwara management and the deputy commissioner, Srinagar.

The gurdwara served migrant families from Pakistan and remained a place to halt not only for the Sikhs but people of all faiths.

It organised langars (community kitchens) and social service initiatives. It also sheltered flood and earthquake victims.

In 2006, the government started construction of National Highway from Srinagar to Baramulla. Several utilities/structures remained bottlenecks under the highway alignment.

The Srinagar-Baramulla stretch is executed by the Border Roads Organisation while Anantnag-Srinagar part is done by the NHAI.

The road was completed in 2013. However, due to litigation in the High Court, four bottlenecks remained.

These included the gurdwara, a power line, a petrol filling station and water supply lines. A land owner whose land was proposed for relocation of gurdwara objected to it and obtained a stay in 2014. Ever since then the land owner, the gurdwara committee, collector land acquisition and the government have been locked in litigation.

Finally on Thursday, the gurdwara started making way for construction of the National Highway after successful talks between the gurdwara management and Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary.

After a series of meetings during the last one week and examining a host of options to resolve the issue, both sides arrived at an agreement. This included alternate land and reconstruction of the gurdwara at a nearby land finalised by the deputy commissioner in consultation with the Sikh community.

It was more of the strategic resolution than compensation. The community elders and the management of gurdwara Damdama Sahib agreed to the offer of the deputy commissioner.

On Thursday, in the presence of the deputy commissioner and gurdwara management members, the demolition of the gurdwara began.

The gurdwara will now function from a makeshift space till a new gurdwara is reconstructed at the agreed location. The state PWD has been entrusted with construction of the gurdwara as per the design provided by the Sikh Sangat.

The gesture of the Sikh community here has made history in Kashmir.

The administrative outreach of DC Srinagar to resolve the 13-year-long complex issue is an example of proactive approach for efficient resolution aimed at public welfare. — IANS

SRINAGAR: A fresh Western Disturbance (WD) has finally hit the region resulting in further chilly weather conditions in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, where isolated rain and snow could occur during the next 24 hours.

However, this will follow Widespread (WD) rain and snow in Jammu and Kashmir and scattered rain or snow in Ladakh region during the subsequent 48 hours, a Met department spokesman said this afternoon.

He said mercury continued to remain below normal in the valley, where air traffic at Srinagar International Airport remained suspended for the past four days due to dense fog, badly hitting several thousand passengers who were scheduled to travel outside the Kashmir. However, situation may improve tomorrow.

As the WD, which has originated in Arabian sea has entered the region from Afghanistan and Pakistan. This system could result in isolated very light rain and snow in the valley, including Srinagar during the next 24 hours, he said.

However, during the subsequent two days—December 12 and 13—widespread rain and snow is predicted which could again affect surface traffic, particularly on Srinagar-Jammu, Srinagar-Leh and historic 86-km-long Mughal road.

Dense fog coupled with icy cold winds badly hit the normal life in the Kashmir valley, including Srinagar, where the mercury remained below normal.

Srinagar, December 10: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday allowed service providers to start SMS service messages in the Valley so people, particularly businessmen, can receive messages from various banks, officials said.

Mobile subscribers in the Kashmir Valley will now be able to receive SMS messages generated from machines, the officials said.

SMS services were stopped as a “precautionary measure” on October 14, hours after postpaid mobile phone connections were restored in the Valley. Mobile connections were suspended on August 5 after the Centre abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated the state into union territories. PTI

Srinagar: Authorities in Kashmir closed primary schools on Monday due to adverse weather conditions as heavy fog engulfed most parts of the Valley, also affecting flight operations at the Srinagar airport, officials said.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan ordered the closure of all government and private primary schools on Monday in view of the adverse weather conditions, the officials said.

They said the decision was taken in view of the heavy fog which has been prevailing in the Valley for the past few days.

A thick layer of fog engulfed most parts of the Valley for the fourth consecutive day on Monday, affecting the visibility and causing problems to the people, especially motorists.

A Meteorological Department official said the foggy weather conditions in the Valley would remain till Tuesday.

“It is much better today (Monday) than it was yesterday (Sunday) when the foggy conditions remained throughout the day and got worse in the late afternoon. The foggy weather will remain till Tuesday after which there will be improvement,” the official said.

Fog disrupted the air traffic to and fro Srinagar airport as no flight operations took place in the morning because of the poor visibility, an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said.

“The flight operations have been severely affected at the Srinagar airport and no flight has landed here because of the poor visibility caused by the heavy fog,” the official said.

He said several morning flights have been cancelled.

The flight operations have been severely affected at the Srinagar airport for the past four days.

On Friday, several flights were cancelled, while no flight operations took place on Saturday and Sunday. PTI