Z Gali and Phirkiyan passes also reopen, Razdan pass still closed

Srinagar, Feb 28: After Sadhna, Z-Gali and Phirkiyan passes also reopened for traffic after remaining closed due to snowfall following further improvement in the weather while Razdan top remained closed in north Kashmir due to accumulation of snow.
Meanwhile,  the 300-km-long national highway, the only road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was through for one-way and vehicles will ply from Jammu to Srinagar on Wednesday while Ladakh and historic Mughal roads remained closed.
With further improvement in the weather, traffic was resumed on Z-Gali and Phirkiyan passes, connecting dozens of far flung and remote areas, including those near the Line of Control (LoC) with their district headquarter Kupwara after four days, a Police Control Room (PCR) official told UNI over phone from Kupwara. Traffic on Sadhna pass, linking border town and other areas with Kupwara was resumed yesterday after remaining closed for three days due to fresh snowfall and slippery road condition.
With the reopening of these passes border town of Keran, Machil, Karnah and Tangdhar again got connected with Kupwara.
However, he said on the basis of information received from SASE, medium danger avalanche warning for next 24 hrs has been issued on Friday evening for Baramulla, Gulmarg, Furkian-Z Gali and Kupwara-Chowkibal-Tangdhar, Bandipora and Ganderbal in the Kashmir valley.
However, this winter there was very less snowfall as compared to previous years when these roads remained closed for six months, he said and added this time roads to border areas remained open during the most period of winter due to less snowfall. However, eleven persons, including an officer of Border Roads Organisation (BRO), were killed in a snow avalanche at Sadhna top in January this year.
Meanwhile, traffic on road connecting border areas, including Gurez  which is surrounded by Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) from three sides, with district headquarter Bandipora remained suspended since December last year due to accumulation of several feet of snow at Razdan top besides slippery condition.
Meanwhile, only one-way traffic will continue to ply on 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway to avoid traffic jam and accidents as road widening and repair work was going on. On Wednesday vehicles will ply from Jammu to Srinagar and no vehicle, including security force convoy would be allowed from opposite direction, he said.
He said 86-km-long historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and highway linking Ladakh with Kashmir remained closed since December last year due to accumulation of snow. UNI