Traffic, Power Supply Hit As Kashmir Receives First Snowfall Of The Season

Kashmir witnessed its first snowfall of the season on Wednesday, November 6, plunging the mercury to sub-zero in Gulmarg and bringing woes galore, as major disruptions were reported in power supply and on roads, besides air traffic being hit. The Met forecasts rain starting Thursday night and continuing on Friday. The maximum temperature in Srinagar is seven degrees, while it is minus one degree on the hill station of Gulmarg.

Most areas in the valley have plunged into the darkness since Wednesday night, with 330 KV transmission lines disrupted due to snowfall.”Work is on to restore the 330 KV transmission line that supplies electricity to 200 feeders, 70 percent of the work has been completed and it is just a matter of a few hours when electricity will be fully restored”, Shahid Chowdhary, the District Magistrate of Srinagar, told IANS. Snow clearance machines kept on standby have been pressed into service. However, the snow has not been cleared from most of the roads. “The snow clearance operations have started. The priority is to clear snow from main roads,” said Chowdhary. “Airport and hospital roads are being cleared first.”