GANDERBAL/ SONAMARG: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) team started the snow clearance work from 16th March but due to heavy snow and land slide in area the work got impacted and is very difficult task to identify the road alignment, but the team started the clearance work to Sonamarg road from Gagangeer" employee of Beacon told JK MONITOR".

BRO staff are using heavy machines and snow cutters to remove snow. So far, the road from Gagangeer upto 4km has been cleared and it will take a week or more to make the road functional for vehicles," he said. This road is closed for almost four months and right now we are trying to open it, we feel very happy because it will help the locals to  earn livelihood and will attract more tourists towards this famous  tourist spot,” machine operator" said, adding there is still snow in Sonamarg.

The Sonamarg highway was closed for traffic in December last year after high altitude areas of the Valley including the 11,578-foot high Zojila Pass experienced heavy snowfall, which is a yearly occurence. With the improvement in weather conditions in March scores of tourists are visiting the beautiful place Gagangeer, tourists who come to visit here have to return from Gagangeer and not allowed to visit Sonamarg, due to the road closure. But according to the tourists, they are enjoying the beautiful place of Gagangeer.