Moderate to heavy snowfall took place in Himachal Pradesh’s resort towns of Shimla , Kufri , Narkanda , Chail , Manali , Dharamsala , Chamba and Dalhousie also , even as freak snowfall fell in the lower hills of the state after over half a century. Normal life was affected in the state capital Shimla as the entire town wore a white mantle, delighting locals and tourists.
So far there has been one weather-related fatality in the scenic Himalayan state after a nomad was killed in a snowstorm, police said.
The heavy snowfall has also knocked out power and telephone lines and closed major roads, including the main highway connecting the Kashmir valley with the state winter capital Jammu and the rest of India.
“The main highway has been shut due to heavy snow and we are working to restore the link,” Amir Ali, the head of Kashmir’s disaster management department, told AFP.
“We are also trying our best to restore power,” he said.
A police officer said more than 1,000 trucks, cars, buses and jeeps were stranded at various points along the 300-km main highway.
“The vehicles were carrying passengers, including tourists. The trucks were loaded with supplies for Kashmir valley,” the officer said.
Laborers were using bulldozers, snow removal machines and shovels to open up the zigzag highway, the main route for supplies to the Kashmir valley from Jammu and the rest of the subcontinent.
Stranded passengers, including children, complained of hardships.
“We have been stranded for over 48 hours now amid freezing cold and there has been no help from the government so far,” passenger Yasin Mir said by phone from Batote, a mountainous mid-point on the highway.
There are very few shelter houses along the highway.
The Kashmir Valley wore a black and white look on Saturday as after the first snowfall of the season the valley plunged into darkness with the tripping of power lines.
Barely an hour after the snowfall on Friday evening, power supply to the valley snapped leaving thousands of residents in Srinagar fumbling under a blanket of darkness.
Even 24 hours after the snowfall, the state government failed to restore power supply to the Valley.
Amir Ali, spokesman of disaster management cell, said the 400 KV transmission line to the valley got cut off at Wanpov, Chanderkote and Banihal passes because of heavy snowfall in the higher reaches.
Sources said the state government had asked the air force to drop engineers of the Power Development Department at the affected spot. They said power supply to the valley was expected to be restored soon.
However, Ali said it would take another day to restore power supply to the Valley.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah flew from Jammu to Srinagar and held high-level meetings with officials to restore the power lines.
“Heavy snowfall, coupled with high velocity winds and lightening has knocked out some vital transmission lines. Repair hampered by snow,” Omar tweeted to pacify angry residents.
There were few, though, who could have read the tweet as all Internet connections were down across the valley. People could not even charge their mobile phones because of the non-availability of power.
Embarrassed by the situation, Omar directed the concerned department not to provide power supply to any VVIP area. “(There should be) no islands of light while most areas (are) in darkness,” Omar said.
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