Fresh avalanches delay reopening of Srinagar-Leh highway

Srinagar: Fresh snow avalanches at over 10 places have delayed the reopening of strategic Srinagar-Leh highway. It is the only road linking the Ladakh region with Kashmir. 

The authorities had already completed the snow clearance operation on the highway, which was closed in November 2018 due to the accumulation of eight to ten feet of snow, particularly between Sonamarg-Zojilla and Meenmarg.

The highway was supposed to open for traffic soon, the officials said earlier this month. 

"Every foot of snow proved a challenging task," project commander Colonel Rajeev Lohani was quoted by news agency IANS as saying.

"The whole road from Zojilla Pass to Drass falls in a heavy avalanche zone. The snow clearance team faced a tough challenge on a daily basis. The team has reached zero point and snow clearance may take some more days for widening activities before the highway is officially thrown open for public," he had added.

(With inputs from Zee News' Ieshan Wani)