Bandipora: The fresh snowfall on Wednesday has dashed the hopes of the early opening of Bandipora-Gurez road in north Kashmir, an official told Greater Kashmir.
As per the BRO (Border roads Organisation) officials, stationed in Bandipora and also responsible for the upkeep of the 85 Kilometres long road stretch to frontier Gurez valley , the fresh snowfall will “definitely push the timeline considerably”.
The locals from the snowbound Gurez valley, prior a week, had demanded the opening of the road, given less precipitation and the weather mainly remaining dry.
They had expressed concerns that the stock of fresh vegetables and other edibles was drying up and that early road opening will bring them some relief.
Keeping these concerns in view, the BRO team was set to open the Gurez road by the first week of March with local administration also requesting for the same.
However, with the fresh snowfall on Tuesday and Wednesday, the hopes of the early opening of the road have been dashed.
“The fresh snowfall will push the timelines considerably,” a BRO official told Greater Kashmir. As per the officials, the road was buried under two and a half feet of deep snow.
“Fresh snow accumulation is close to 30 inches,” the official added. They said they weren’t expecting this much snow in a day, which according to them was unfavorable for road reopening.
Meanwhile, the light snowfall in the district’s plains caused minor disruptions in daily life, with electricity getting snapped for several hours together in almost all the areas. However, the PDD was able to restore electricity fully by the evening.
The officials had cited disruption in the 132KV line feeding the grid station due to problems from the source.
“All of our 19 feeders have been restored and all electricity has been restored fully as there was no major disruption in 11KV lines,” Tariq Maqbool, Executive Engineer, PDD Bandipora told Greater Kashmir.