Heavy Snowfall in Kashmir causes massive power outage, snaps land, air links

Srinagar: Surface links between Kashmir and the rest of the country remained cut off for the second day on Sunday due to heavy snowfall in the valley which has caused a massive power outage, officials said.

The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway is closed for vehicular traffic due to heavy snowfall on Saturday which has rendered the road unsafe, an official of the Traffic Control department told news agency PTI.

A police spokesperson said more than 300 passengers, including tourists, who were stranded on the 294-km road due to snowfall, were evacuated to safety in a night-long operation.

The heavy snowfall has caused massive damage to the power supply infrastructure in the alley, leading to power outage since Saturday.

"We are facing near full power outage but efforts are on to restore the electricity supply at the earliest. Against a normal transmission of nearly 1,200 MW, the system is able to transmit only 80 MW due to the damage to transmission lines caused by the snowfall," an official of the divisional administration said.

He said breaking of trees has resulted in supply wires getting snapped at dozens of places while massive foliage hanging over the transmission lines had made it unsafe for the restoration of electricity.

"More than 7,000 employees of PDD are being assisted by other departments to clear the obstructions and repair the lines so that electricity is restored on war footing," the official said.

Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Abid Rasheed Shah said electricity has been restored in several parts of the city while the work was in progress to restore normal supply in the remaining parts.

"Electricity in parts of downtown Srinagar has been restored. We have restored electricity in some parts of the civil lines areas as well," he added.