Thursday 14th May, 2026
No respite for people as far-flung, remote areas remain cutoff
Srinagar, Feb 4: (UNI) Despite improvement in the weather conditions, there was still no respite for people living in dozens of far-flung and remote villages, including those near the Line of Control (LoC), as these areas remained cut off from their district and tehsil headquarters in north Kashmir from the last over three weeks due to accumulation of snow.
“Roads to Machil, Keran and Karnah remained closed from the last three weeks due to accumulation of snow,” a Police Control Room (PCR) official told UNI over the phone from Kupwara on Friday.
However, he said the snow clearance operation on Kupwara-Karnah road is almost over as the traffic could be allowed to the border town in the Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
He said the road from Kupwara to border town of Tangdhar remained closed for the fifth successive day on Monday due to accumulation of snow. The road to the border town had reopened for traffic on January 30 after remaining closed for over two weeks due to accumulation of snow.
He said dozens of other far-flung and remote villages too remained cut off from their tehsil and district headquarters after closure of Sadhna top, Z-Gali, Phirkiyan pass and other passes due to accumulation of snow.
Though the snow clearance operation has been launched from both sides on these roads, due to accumulation of snow and slippery road condition, traffic could not be restored. “Efforts are being made to clear the snow and restore traffic on these roads as soon as possible,” he added.
The border town of Gurez, surrounded by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) from three sides, besides Neeru and dozens of other villages also remained cut off from district headquarters Bandipora since January 11. “A massive snow clearance operation continued on a war-footing from both Gurez and Bandipora sides to put through the road,” an official of PCR told UNI over phone from Gurez.
He said snow clearance was hampered in the morning when snow freezes due to below freezing temperature.
The Union Government and state government have already sanctioned construction of a tunnel at Razadan pass to connect border town of Gurez with district headquarters Bandipora throughout the year. The road remained closed during winter due to snow.