No flood threat in Valley: MeT
Jammu-Srinagar Highway To Remain Closed Tomorrow
Commissioner SMC reviews dewatering exercise in the city.
Bilkees Rashid
Srinagar, Mar 12 :vParts of Kashmir received fresh snowfall while the rest of the valley witnessed moderate to heavy rainfall for the third consecutive day on Friday.
An official told Kashmir Despatch that higher reaches of Kashmir including Gulmarg, Keran and Macchil have received snowfall since Thursday night.
The official said Karnah and Keran areas received two-and-half feet of fresh snow while Macchil received nearly two feet.
Gulmarg and Baramulla towns also received snowfall.
He said rains have lashed the rest of the valley since Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, The Weather Department on Friday ruled out any possibility of flood threat in Kashmir Valley saying by Friday evening there will be lot of improvement in weather conditions.
Deputy Director Metrological Department Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that as compared to North Kashmir there was less rainfall in South Kashmir. “There was rainfall mostly in Kupwara and Bandipora districts of North Kashmir while upper reaches witnessed snowfall. There was lesser rainfall in South Kashmir,” he said.
He said the gauge level in all water bodies is below normal and there is no flood threat at all.
“The temperature is not so high. In March, snow on hills and mountains don’t melt easily. There are no chances of flood,” Dr Mukhtar said.
He said though weather will improve by Friday evening but it will remain cloudy till March 15.
Meanwhile, Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only surface link connecting Kashmir Valley with rest of the world, shall remain closed for traffic on Saturday.
An official told Kashmir Despatch that the strategic thoroughfare was closed on Friday due to weekly maintenance works.
“On March 13, no vehicular movement shall be allowed from either side on Jammu-Srinagar highway in view of inclement weather prediction issued by MeT department for few days/landslides/shooting stones at several places and continuous raining on highway,” a traffic department official said . “In case the weather improves at night then decision will taken tomorrow after assessing the road condition,” the officials added.
Meanwhile, Mughal road, connecting Shopian and Poonch district, was closed due to snow accumulation.
Meanwhile, Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has begun de-watering numerous submerged areas since early hours of morning and has pressed into the services both the mobile and stationed pumps across the city, particularly at the vulnerable points.
Following reports of water logging, Commissioner SMC Athar Amir Khan took an extensive review on dewatering progress after extensive field visits at different working stations and areas under submergence to take stock of de-watering exercise that is going on constantly because of unprecedented showers.
He visited dewatering stations at Sonwar, Regal lane, Jahnagir chowk, Nursing garh, Zampa Kadal,Darish kadal, Shaheen Colony palpora, Bemina, Moominabad Batamaloo.
He was accompanied by S.E Drainage Ahsaan ul Haq, Exn Mech Drainage wing and other officials.
Commissioner passed on directions to the concerned to keep dewatering stations in full operational mode round the clock and keep the standby diesel/generator sets in a state of readiness at the permanent dewatering stations.
He was updated that 86 permanent dewatering pumps are functional 24×7 where as 83 dewatering mobile pumps are in deployment which have been installed at vulnerable places.
On the occasion Commissioner SMC said Adequate POL has to be provided to above said dewatering stations/mobile pumps so that pumps remain operational even in absence of electricity facility.
Athar further reiterated both men and machines should work on war footing to ensure no civilian faces any inconvenience due to the rain water.
The officials apprised Commissioner SMC of the ground situation and the men and machinery in place to dewater inundated areas.
Overall SMC has 127 mobile dewatering units with capacities ranging from 75000 litres per hour to 7.oolac litres per hour besides towing and quick response equipment.
SMC has in place regular maintenance gang to tackle any such situation further added S. E Drainage .
