Sources said no vehicles were being allowed to leave Srinagar or Jammu on Friday as about one foot of snow had accumulated near the tunnel at Banihal. They said about 2,000 passengers, besides drivers and conductors of trucks and other vehicles, have been stranded on the highway for the past three days.
Kashmir valley continued to remain cut-off from rest of the country for the second consequetive day, running in view of the incessant snowfall that has frozen normal life across the valley. Mukhtar Ahmad reports.
Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second day on Monday as snowfall blocked the vital Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and delayed all scheduled flights to the Valley.
Heavy snowfall has blanketed Kashmir, bringing relief to the residents from dry weather. The snowfall, which began in the late afternoon on Friday, has continued in most parts of the valley, said officials, adding it is one of the heaviest snowfalls in the recent years in the plains of Kashmir.
Restrictions have been imposed in five police station areas of Srinagar, a police official said.
A British tourist was murdered on Friday night allegedly by a tourist from Holland in a houseboat on Dal Lake were both of them were staying. A senior police officer said that the Dutch tourist David Richard, who tried to flee the valley, was nabbed early on Saturday from Qazigund in south Kashmir, 80 km from Srinagar, on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
According to the official, two Punjab residents were arrested following the recovery of one of the biggest narcotic haul this year from Banihal area along Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
The 4.5 kilometre-long Silkyara tunnel project in Uttarakhand, which is part of the central government's strategic 900-km 'Char Dham Yatra All Weather Road', will continue after the necessary safety audit and repair of the broken structure, a senior road ministry official said on Wednesday.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
The encounter broke on Monday when the terrorists opened fire on an army convoy, on its way to Srinagar, at Qazigund on Jammu-Srinagar national highway. One soldier was killed in the attack while another sustained injuries.
Bullet-proof vehicles, wall-through radars and drones are some of the new gadgets inducted by the Central Reserve Police Force into its counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir, leading to precision-based actions against terrorists.
A day after receiving heavy snowfall, Kashmir Valley shivered in intense cold as mercury across the region plunged by several degrees with the summer capital and Gulmarg skiing resort recording the coldest night of this winter so far.
The authorities also declared unsafe a mosque and a religious school for girls at Nai Basti village in Thathri, 35 kilometres from Doda town along the Kishtwar-Batote National Highway.
The accident took place at the Tungi-Morh in the Chowki Chora belt of the district, the officials said, adding that the bus rolled around 150 feet down into the gorge.
The body of a junior commissioned officer was retrieved from a stream in the Poshana area of Surankote late Saturday evening, while the body of a second soldier was found this morning as the water level started receding in the district.
With a large number of Indian youth aspiring to work in the railways, delays in filling up railway job vacancies were a point of criticism against the BJP in the run-up to the elections.
Fresh snowfall disrupted normal life in Jammu and Kashmir, where an avalanche warning was issued in five districts, higher reaches and tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh and the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand on Monday.
Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was suspended due to lurking threat of floods in the Valley, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded, officials said.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar on Monday and restrictions were put in place in other towns to thwart a march called by separatists.To protest the killing of three teenagers allegedly by the police, the hard-line separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to march to south Kashmir's Anantnag town on Monday.The forces beefed up security arrangements in the old city area of Srinagar.
'The wave of terrorism is over in Kashmir. Local people do not support it.'
Intense cold wave gripped Kashmir, with Kargil becoming the coldest place this winter.
The CRPF personnel, part of road opening deployment, were sitting inside their vehicle at Pantha chowk bypass around 5.50 pm along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway when, terrorists carried out the attack.
Tourist hot spots like Gulmarg and Pahalgam woke up on Friday morning under a thick blanket of snow.
Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, said the history of Kashmiri Pandits have a great and rich history.
At least 36 people were killed and 19 injured when a bus carrying passengers skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district on Wednesday, officials said.
The Kashmir valley is cut off from the rest of the country as the Srinagar-Jammu national highway is closed and flights stand cancelled.
The security forces including army launched a counter-insurgency operation in Chancer area of Kulgam district on Friday night, following information about presence of ultras in the area, police officials said.
At least four civilians were injured in a grenade attack by militants on security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
Kashmir witnessed the season's heaviest snowfall.
'The greatness of India can be experienced by meeting Indians on the frontiers of India.' 'Every citizen on the border is a soldier'
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
Addressing reporters at his residence soon after the meeting ended, Chowdhury said six names came up before the panel for the selection of the two ECs and the names of Sandhu and Kumar were finalised by a majority of members of the high-powered panel.
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
The encounter began in the afternoon at a village in Kulgam as Jammu and Kashmir Police, along with the Central Reserve Police Force and the army, were carrying out operations to clear a national highway ahead of the Amarnath Yatra, beginning June 28, a senior police official said.
Amid incessant rains, Gandhi resumed the march from Ramban Wednesday morning but inclement weather forced its suspension. The march will now resume on Friday as tomorrow is a rest day.
'If democracy does not exist, if there are no political spaces, there is no media, there is no civil society, what do we rejoice?'
Landslides have occurred near Ramban and Battery Cheshma which have forced the closure of the highway.
The tunnel would provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Leh-Ladakh
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