By IANS, Srinagar : The Srinagar-Leh highway in Jammu and Kashmir was Tuesday thrown open to vehicular traffic after six months of biting cold and snowfall.
The strategic 434-km-long highway passes through the Zojilla Pass that connects the cold, mountain region of Ladakh with the rest of the country. It remains closed each year for over six months due to heavy snowfall, which makes any movement across impossible.
Hundreds of vehicles, including private cars, taxis and trucks carrying essential supplies to the Ladakh region, were flagged off at Zojilla Pass by Lieutenant General A.S. Sekhon, general officer commanding the army’s 15th corps in the Valley.
The first army convoy of this year also crossed the pass, carrying supplies for the troops posted in the extremely inhospitable Ladakh region.
Ladakh has of late also become an attractive tourist destination, for both Indians and foreigners.