Mughal Road closed

Rajouri, Dec 28: The Mughal Road continued to remain closed while the Mechanical Engineering Department (MED) took up the snow clearance work up to Poshana village.

On Friday, the Mughal Road was closed for the movement of vehicles due to snow accumulation and slippery conditions and continued to remain closed for the second day on Saturday.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Surankote, Farooq Khan Nazki said that snow clearance work had been taken up by the Mechanical Engineering Department.

“We have taken up snow clearance work only up to Poshana which is the last human habitation in the area towards Pir Ki Gali,” he said. “Snow clearance will hopefully get completed by Saturday late evening up to Poshana.  It is continuously snowing in the area and can lead to delays in completion of work.”

Nazki said that the decision to take up snow clearance work for the Pir Ki Gali side on the Mughal Road would be taken only after an improvement in weather.

“We will decide whether to take up snow clearance up to Pir Ki Gali once the weather improves,” he said. “The decision not to take up snow clearance work to restore Mughal Road could also be taken.”

The administration started the work of removing snow after the weather cleared to some extent on Saturday afternoon, but until the snow was completely removed, the movement of vehicles would not be allowed on Mughal Road.

In the last two days, more than 1 foot of snow had been recorded on Mughal Road from Peer Ki Gali to Chhatta Paani.

Due to excessive snow, no vehicle was allowed to travel on the Mughal Road.

Due to this people travelling from both Rajouri and Poonch districts towards Kashmir are facing many hardships.

People of both districts say that the work of removing snow should be started as soon as possible so that they can get permission to pass through this route.

DSP Traffic Shiv Kumar said that the movement of vehicles on the Mughal Road had been completely stopped.

He said that the work of removing snow had been started.

Meanwhile, Police in Poonch rescued six passengers stranded at Chattapani, Mughal Road.

The passengers were travelling in two vehicles from Shopian towards Surankote when the vehicle got stuck in the snow, leaving the occupants stranded in challenging weather conditions.

Police said that its team led by SDPO Surankote Ajaz Choudhary and SHO Surankote along with Incharge Police Post Behram Gala rushed to the spot to assist in the efforts.