Snow blankets twin south Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Shopian

Pulwama, Dec 27: Fresh snow blanketed south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts on Friday afternoon.

The snowfall, which began at around 2 pm, continued intermittently till late evening.

The low-lying areas of Pulwama received a thin snow while the upper reaches including Sangarwani, Abhama, Achgoza received 4 to 5 inches of snow.

The snowfall caused slippery conditions on roads, which resulted in bumper-to-bumper traffic along various streets and thoroughfares of the district.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Basharat Qayoom told Greater Kashmir that snow clearance operation started promptly after snow began accumulating on the roads.

He said that different control rooms already set up in the district headquarters were working round the clock.

The DC said that special arrangements were made for the expectant mothers by setting up evacuation centres.

"We have also formed swift response teams to restore power supply in case of any power breakdown", he said.

The DC also said that ample supplies of ration and LPG cylinders were available with the administration.

In neighbouring Shopian district, the low lying areas experienced around 2 inches of snow while the upper reaches like Heerpora on heritage Mughal road received 3 to 4 inches of snow.

An official said that Dobijan and Peer Ki Gali received around 7 and 10 inches of snow respectively.

The official said that a continuous snowfall forced the closure of Mughal road.

He said that the snow clearance operations along various roads were going on at full throttle.

Meanwhile, the snowfall has lifted the spirits of apple farmers in both the districts.

Yawar Ahmad, a young apple farmer from Shopian said that the snowfall had finally ended a protracted dry-spell. " We hope that this year the apple farms receive an adequate number of chilling hours", he said.

The prolonged dry spell in the last apple season adversely impacted the quality of apple crop.