Snowfall irks Kashmir's roadblocked residents

Residents of Jammu and Kashmir's Shpian District are demanding a permanent solution to the problem of frequent road blocks caused by snowfall.

They claim the snowfall has prevented them from stocking up on essential commodities and caused business losses, besides jammed connectivity on the Mughal Road, which links Poonch and Rajouri districts with Srinagar.

The sarpanch of a village in Shopian district, Abdullah Khan, said: "The closure of the road for the past two months is causing us a lot of trouble. It has disrupted transportation and our business has come to a standstill."

The Mughal Road was reconstructed in the 1950s in Kashmir with an idea of improving the economy of the Poonch and Rajouri districts. The road eased transportation for the traders from these areas by cutting short the distance to Srinagar from 588 kilometers to 126 kilometers.

A local,Sikandar, said:"When the Mughal Road was opened for us, it had brought hope to the people of Kashmir. They had welcomed the decision of opening the road. But, unfortunately this road is open only for six months in a year. Be it the bureaucrats, the politicians or the common people, everybody has demanded that the road should remain permanently open."

Similar conditions of jammed roads were seen in other parts of Kashmir as well, where people have to walk for miles to get the main highway for reaching to their work places.

In higher altitudes, the temperature has even dropped to sub-zero level, with some provinces witnessing lowest minimum temperature.

Located in the tropics, most of India witnessed very hot summers and largely temperate winters.