Srinagar: The 434km national highway, connecting Ladakh region with Kashmir, has been officially closed from Sunday for winter months while the Kashmir highway and historic Mughal road are through for traffic.

Meanwhile, authorities across the Kashmir valley have geared up all resources to meet any challenge following prediction of moderate to heavy rain and snow in the state from Monday for next few days.

The Srinagar-Leh national highway has been closed for winter months, a traffic police official said this morning. ”We have withdrawn all our personnel deployed on the highway between Sonamarg and Drass, on other side of the Zojila pass to regulate traffic,” he said.

The official said that traffic police and local administration on both sides of the Zojila had made all efforts to clear vehicles to their respective destinations before closing it officially from today.

The highway remains closed between Sonamarg to Meenmarg Drass because of ten to 15 feet of snowfall during winter. He said there was also a forecast for heavy snow on the highway, connecting Ladakh with Kashmir for next five days from Monday.

However, he said, traffic from Kargil, a border town on the highway to Leh, will continue during the winter, subject to weather and road condition. Similarly, traffic from Srinagar to Sonamarg will also ply subject to road condition.

The national highway, connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, was through for both way light vehicular traffic. However, light vehicles will continue to ply from one side only to avoid any traffic jam on the highway, where road widening is going on.

Similarly, the historic 86-km-long Mughal road from Shopian in south Kashmir to Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region was also through for traffic.

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