Multiple avalanches on the Srinagar-Leh national highway at Zojila Pass have resulted in the deaths of seven people, including a child and two women, with rescue operations ongoing.
The Zojila tunnel, a crucial infrastructure project connecting the Kashmir Valley to Ladakh, achieved a significant breakthrough, connecting its two ends and moving closer to providing all-weather connectivity, reducing travel time from 1.5 hours to just 15 minutes.
Fresh snowfall in Kashmir, including Srinagar, leads to flight cancellations and highway closures, disrupting normal life.
The 434-km Srinagar-Leh National highway was closed for traffic as high altitude areas of Kashmir Valley, including the famous ski resort of Gulmarg, experienced the first heavy snowfall of the season, officials said.
Zojila Pass, at a height of 11,516 feet above sea level, connects the picturesque Kashmir Valley with the cold Indus valley desert through the 434-km long Srinagar-Leh road.
The Srinagar-Leh National Highway connecting Ladakh with Kashmir Valley was reopened for traffic on Tuesday after remaining closed for seven days due to heavy rains, boosting connectivity to the flood-hit region awaiting crucial supplies.
"We did not bathe or shave for three months and on several occasions quenched our thirst by eating ice," recalled braveheart Naik Praveen on the 26th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas Saturday.
More than 300 flights have been cancelled and at least 25 airports, including Srinagar, have been temporarily shut for operations amid restrictions in the wake of the armed forces launching missile attacks on terror targets in Pakistan on Wednesday morning.
Heavy rains battered Jammu and Kashmir, triggering floods, damaging infrastructure, and disrupting normal life. Authorities issued advisories and rescue operations were conducted.
The venue, which is due to host Thursday's match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals, has one more match left on schedule -- the May 11 game between Punjab and Mumbai Indians.
Civilian flight operations from the 32 airports across northern and western India, including Srinagar and Amritsar, were suspended from May 9 to May 15.
A senior government official confirmed that after a meeting with other stakeholders, the decision has been taken and airlines and airport authorities have been informed about it.
Dr Dar and six labourers were killed when terrorists struck a tunnel construction site on the Srinagar-Leh national highway in Ganderbal on Sunday evening.
On Monday, April 10, 2023, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugrated the Z-Morh tunnel on the Srinagar-Leh highway.
The terrorists opened fire on the camp housing labourers of a private company working on construction of a tunnel Gund area in the district, officials said.
No one told them what had happened until late at night. And then too, it came through the media, the family said.
A Village Defence Committee member patrols Mangnar village near the Line of Control in Poonch on Thursday, January 5, 2023, in the wake of the January 1-2 terror attacks at Dhangri village in Rajouri district.
This spell is most likely to give good snow/rain in the Pirpanjal area Gulmarg, Ramban-Banihal, Shopian, Poonch-Rajouri and Zojila especially during November 24-25 and decrease thereafter significantly.
The four young men from Chittur in Palakkad district who died in a car accident in Jammu and Kashmir on December 5 are remembered by their village as 'hardworking youth' who used to go on such trips everywhere.
Speaking during the Question Hour, the road transport and highways minister said the country has set several world records in road construction despite COVID-19. The construction of Zoji La tunnel on the Srinagar-Leh highway will be completed before 2024, while another Z-Morh tunnel will be completed in the next three months, he added.
The upper reaches of Kashmir valley witnessed the first snowfall of the season. The weather department has predicted bad weather for a few days. Snowfall at hill stations like Gulmarg and Pahalgam also brings the hope of revival of tourism in the area which has been severely hit for most of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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He said his biggest takeaway from the Kargil war is that the enemy cannot be trusted even if there is "political show" of friendship.
The national capital, parts of which reeled under heatwave conditions for the past few days, had some relief on Wednesday with strong winds and partly cloudy skies witnessed during the day.
The roads will reduce the distance to the border considerably and make easier the movement of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel, who at present have walk up to 25 kms to reach there, officials said.
Hurried and ill-planned Summits like the Vajpayee-Musharraf Summit in Agra which preceded the attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 are best avoided for now, says G Parthasarathy
President of the People's Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti said that the was disappointed with the report submitted by the three interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir to Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday.
Rediff reader CK Varma shared these photographs.
Militants on Wednesday evening attacked the vehicle of the area station house officer with a powerful hand grenade that exploded injuring a cop in Lar village of north Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
'Both sides have agreed that the overall situation should be handled in a responsible manner'
Militants on Wednesday morning ambushed an army convoy, killing one trooper and wounding 10 others on the Srinagar Leh national highway.
Police said militants attacked a patrol party of the CRPF with a powerful grenade at Habak road crossing on the strategic Srinagar Leh highway.
Laying foundation stone for a 44 MW power project in Kargil, the prime minister said converting the Srinagar-Leh road into a national highway is also under consideration.
The newly-acquired C-130J aircraft of the Indian Air Force fleet, famously known as 'Super Hercules' made a maiden flight at the air force station at Jammu on September 27, a defence statement said.
PM to launch works on Zojila tunnel, other infrastructure projects.
It will be the third road link to Ladakh after the other two roads: the Manali-Leh road and Srinagar-Leh highway. The work on reopening an alternative road to Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh has been expedited as it is a strategically key road, said an official on condition of anonymity, adding the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
The road, the alternative link between Kashmir and rest of the country, was closed after the season's first heavy snowfall in the Jammu region.
As tensions between the armies of India and China at the LAC show no sign of ebbing, both sides have significantly ramped up the presence of their troops.
