Ramban/Jammu: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was reopened on Thursday for vehicular traffic after remaining closed for a day due to landslides in Ramban district, sources said.
The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, was blocked by a landslide at Panthiyal area in Ramban district Thursday morning, they said.
As a result, hundreds of vehicles were stranded at different points of the highway, they said.
On Wednesday, the highway was closed at Duggi area due to the landslide, which was also cleared, the officials said.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature across Kashmir plunged below the freezing point with the tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam reeling under extreme cold, officials said.
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 1.3 degrees Celsius down from 1.3 degrees Celsius the previous night, they said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 10 degrees Celsius slightly up from minus 10.4 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Pahalgam, which also serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded a low of minus 10.9 degrees Celsius down from the previous night’s minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, they said.
The officials said Qazigund recorded a minimum of minus 0.2 degrees Celsius, while the nearby south Kashmir town of Kokernag recorded a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature in Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 3.4 degrees Celsius. Kashmir valley is currently under the grip of the 40-day harshest winter period known as ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’ which began on December 21 last year.
