Gurez-Bandipora road closed

Bandipora, Feb 17: Amid predictions of snowfall, the authorities in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district closed the Gurez-Bandipora road on Saturday.

The officials said that even as there was light snowfall during the day on Razdan Top and in some areas in Gurez, the stranded traffic was allowed to ply from Gurez to Bandipora in the morning before the road was closed until further orders.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Bandipora, Shakeel-ur-Rehman, told Greater Kashmir that the road had been closed as there was a prediction of heavy snowfall.

Notably, the road was thrown open on February 14 in a record time after remaining closed for just 17 days this season.

This was possible due to dry January and fewer snow spells this winter.

Rehman said the stock was available in abundance in Gurez Valley to mitigate any crisis arising due to the road closure.

He said that a fresh stock of vegetables and other daily essential items were transported to Gurez in the past few days when the road was open.

Reacting to issues of power supply and road connectivity following the snowfall, Rehman said that men and machinery were ready to clear priority first and second roads in a time-bound manner as per the laid down Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) when the snow falls.

“We recently had issues regarding the power supply to Gurez from the grid being snapped due to snowfall. The faults were restored after the snow was cleared from the roads in a record time,” he said.

Rehman said that in case there was more snow, all departments including Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) and round-the-clock control rooms were ready to tackle the situation.

He said enough quantities of essentials were also available in hilly areas of Bandipora and Gurez divisions, Tulail, and Bagtore regions.

Rehman said that the air sorties were also being utilised in case there were emergencies of any other nature.

On complaints of roads in the upper reaches of Bandipora not being cleared on time, Rehman said, “I have toured the upper reaches to ensure roads are opened in a time-bound manner. There are no issues in this regard.”