Painted in white: Heavy snowfall isolates Kashmir from the rest of the country

Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second day on Saturday due to heavy snowfall in many areas over the past four days.

Very few vehicles could be seen on the roads as people preferred to stay indoors after Friday's harrowing experience, with traffic jams caused by snowfall which had choked the city roads.

The air traffic to and from the Srinagar International Airport also remained suspended for the second day as the runway has been blocked by snow.

Normal life across the Valley remained paralysed as the authorities here failed to clear the snow even from main roads of the city and other inter-district routes.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, while taking stock of the situation last evening, expressed displeasure with the pace of snow clearance operations and directed the administration to speed up the work.

Gulmarg ski resort in north Kashmir was the coldest recorded place in the state on Friday night as the mercury plunged to minus 8.4 degrees Celsius, a drop of two degrees from previous night's minus 6.2 degrees Celsius.