Despite snowfall, Sinthan Top set to reopen next week: Admin

Anantnag, Feb 08: Despite receiving heavy snowfall last week, the Sinhan Top is likely to reopen next week if the weather remains dry, officials said.
The National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) maintains the stretch of NH244 up to Sinthan Top along the Anantnag-Kishtwar road.
Faheem Aftab Wani, Engineer (Projects), NHIDCL, said that the snow accumulation in the lower stretches measures approximately 2-3 feet, while in the upper stretches, it reaches around 10 feet, particularly in curves. At the top, the accumulation is relatively less, around 4-5 feet.
“The Kishtwar side has received more snowfall this year. We are in the clearance process and working to restore the road as soon as possible,” he said.
Dr Devansh Yadav, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kishtwar, told Rising Kashmir that they have sufficient snow cutters available, and clearance work has started. He said that if the weather remains dry, Sinthan Top will open within the next three days.
He said that JCBs, snow cutters, dozers, and hydraulic excavators are deployed throughout the winters to keep Sinthan open for the most part during this winter.
“This year, Sinthan was open even in December and January, which is a good thing, and a lot of tourists visited the place and enjoyed the off-beat destination, which had plenty of snow,” he said.
He said that the Sinthan festival was organized last year, where more than 20,000 people attended, including tourists.
“In the coming months, we’ll have tourism events at Sinthan to attract more tourists and promote it as a year-long off-beat destination,” DC Kishtwar added.