It is an oft-repeated story. The winter’s only blessing and charm—snow—always turns into curse in Kashmir. People, who, generally, crave for the snowfall in winter, rue when it actually happens. Not that there is something wrong with the aesthetic and arty sense of the people, but because of the problems they are subjected to after the snowfall. It goes without saying that the snow is the only attraction for people in winter. This year God has been quite gracious to bestow His blessing on Kashmir in the shape of snow. It is for the third time that the valley witnessed a rich snowfall adding a new charm to this beautiful part of the world. The entire valley and its surrounding mountain peaks give a striking charm with white snow capping and covering them all. Social media is agog with photographs and videos of snow accumulating on streets, house lawns, trees and house tops. Videos capturing citizens celebrating the snow fall with awesome charm gave a new meaning and sense to the winter. The whisper of swirling and falling snowflakes evoked a sense of extra delight, marking the arrival of a new feeling to hold onto, this charm captures the imagination and beauty of winter. The snowfall gave a respite to the valley people in some other way as well. The valley had been reeling under harsh cold coupled with dryness causing serious problems like scarcity of water as water bodies and taps had got frozen under sub zero temperature. The snowfall has lessened these problems to some extent. But the peoples’ joy, as always, proved short-lived as new and more problems serious in nature and consequences are staring at their faces. In fact the problems of the people begin with the fall of the first flake of the snow. Power and road connectivity are the first to become the casualties, exposing the traditional lackadaisical and easygoing attitude. As the authorities were yet to overcome the problems that overtook the valley due to January 7 snowfall, this week’s snowfall (on Wednesday) came as another ruse for them to conceal their worthlessness.
Kashmir is snow prone region since its existence. It is not something unexpected or unforeseen has happened. The basic question is why the power supply system is so fragile that three or four inch snow dashes it to the ground. Kashmir is not the only place where there is snowfall. But Kashmir is the only place where everything gets buried under snow—the government in the very first place. Snow falls every winter in Kashmir, and the problems get repeated every time there is a snowfall. The government should have taken all this into consideration well before the time, and efforts should have been made to make maximum of the minimum. But here everything goes in reverse direction. It is not only the power supply that has affected the lives of the people. The road connectivity has also got badly affected in the wake of the snowfall. Most of the roads and streets in capital Srinagar are under snow. Nobody from the Municipality or Public Works department is seen anywhere on the streets clearing or monitoring the road clearance. Srinagar Municipal Corporation, which has an army of people to meet such eventualities, appears to be under deep slumber.
What has made the situation even worse is the water logging on crucial city centers. The exhibition chowk, Jahangir Chow, Hari Singh High Street, Lal Chowk, Regal Chowk and several other surrounding localities have turned into water pools and lakes due to water logging. The drainage system seems to have failed completely.The state government which has moved to Jammu for the winter season is basking in the sunny and warm weather. The valley has been handed over to a few bureaucrats with divisional commissioner as their head, who have ensconced themselves to their cozy offices. The essential commodities and eatables of daily use too have disappeared from the market. They are being sold in black against whopping prices. There is no control over prices. Governor S P Malik, who is currently head of the government, needs to take stock of the worsening situation in the valley, and activate his machinery to mitigate the peoples’ problems. He speaks on everything that comes his way but is turning a blind eye to the daily problems of the valley people.
