Heavy Snowfall: All flights from Srinagar Airport cancelled; life comes to a standstill in J&K

Continuous snowfall in Kashmir has led to the cancellation of all 43 flights at Srinagar airport and reduced the visibility to 400m in the area.

Srinagar:With the onset of the last phase of "Chillai Kalan" in Kashmir Valley, the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse. Due to sudden heavy snowfall, life has come to a standstill. The valley has lost ground and air connectivity with the outside world, while inter-district connections have also been cut off and several flights have been canceled.

Heavy snowfall has disrupted the power supply in most parts of the valley, including the city of Srinagar. Power transmission lines, poles, and transformers have been severely damaged in most places. Kashmir University, Cluster University, and Skims Sura have also postponed all the examinations scheduled for February 23 due to the snow-covered situation.

The capital city of Srinagar, along with other parts of the Kashmir Valley also received heavy snowfall since last night. As a result, no aircraft from the province has been able to take off from Srinagar airport. Continuous snowfall in Kashmir has led to the cancellation of all 43 flights at Srinagar airport and reduced the visibility to 400m in the area.

"All scheduled 43 flights have been canceled in view of heavy snowfall and low visibility. Passengers will be adjusted in the forthcoming flights. All airlines have offered the option for refund and rescheduling at no extra charges. Passengers must contact the respective airlines call center for refund or rescheduling process," Director Srinagar International Airport, Kuldeep Singh said.

In a bid to monitor the level of snowfall, the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Jammu and Kashmir administration has also set up a snow control room in Srinagar to respond to any emergency calls in case of a snowstorm.

The local weatherman has predicted a gradual improvement in weather conditions from Thursday.

The men and machinery have, however, been pressed to clear the roads, but the operation continued till late hours as the intermittent snowfall continued till later afternoon.

As per the official statement, the vehicular movement on the Jammu-Srinagar highway will remain suspended tomorrow due to a huge landslide at Cafeteria Morh, continuous falling of stones at many places between Ramban and Banihal, and snow accumulation between NAVYUG tunnel and Qazigund. The officials appealed to people not to undertake any journey on the Jammu-Srinagar highway tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the other roads including Mughal Road, SSG road, and Kishtwar-Sinthan Road were also closed for vehicular movement in view of snow accumulation.