Srinagar:
Heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures in the Kashmir valley have blocked several arterial roads that bring supplies to Srinagar.
The Srinagar-Jammu highway has been partially opened for trucks carrying essential supplies after a snow-clearing operation launched by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains the 294 kilometers link between Kashmir and the rest of the country.
The BRO restored one-way traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway on Tuesday, allowing trucks carrying essential supplies to proceed to Srinagar.
"There are a lot of snow avalanches and snow slides taking place. But, despite that, we have managed to restore one-way vehicular traffic after three days," TPS Rawat, BRO's chief engineer explained.
However, there were reports from the capital of a shortage of cooking gas, kerosene oil and sugar.
Meanwhile, because of the heavy snowfall and threat of avalanches along much of the road, many trucks remained stranded on Wednesday - leaving their drivers worried.
"Nobody is paying attention to our plight. Our rations have finished and it is freezing cold at night," said one stranded truck driver. "We are very worried as avalanches are also hitting the area."
Officials have also said that no passenger vehicles are being allowed onto the highway, because of the heavy build-up of snow and threat of avalanches.