Shimla, Jan. 23 -- As many as 535 roads, including four National Highways, were closed across Himachal Pradesh due to heavy snowfall, while large-scale snow clearance operations were underway, the Public Works Department (PWD) said on Friday.

According to an official brief from the state disaster Management Authority, a review meeting on snow clearance was chaired by the Engineer-in-Chief, HPPWD, through video conference with all Chief Engineers, Superintending Engineers and Executive Engineers, directing them to ensure time-bound restoration of roads in snow-affected areas.

The PWD said 264 machines, including 78 departmental JCBs, 128 hired JCBs, 18 robots, 10 dozers and 30 tippers, have been deployed for snow clearance operations acr...