Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 23: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee vice president and former MLC G N Monga today expressed serious concern over the lack of basic amenities, including power supply, to the people of the Valley in this harsh winter.
In a statement issued to press here today, he said since early November snowfall, people in Kashmir are facing lot of hardships, but unfortunately the administration has failed to come to their rescue.
“This year Kashmir is snowing like before and it is a blessing for the people. But there is a negative side to it. Not only electricity in Srinagar and other towns plays hide-n-seek most of the times, in remote areas people are living in dark as there is no power supply to them. Shortage of LPG cylinders and ration has added to the miseries of common people,” Monga said.
“True, the electric lines are burdened with the accumulated snow, and there is a likelihood of any mishap, but that doesn’t mean electricity should disappear altogether from many areas. Snow remains on roads for days and nobody from the administration is bothered,” he added.
The Congress leader said that travel along the 270-km so-called all-weather Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, which connects Kashmir with rest of the country has increasingly become a nightmarish experience for people.
“The road remains shut for days and even weeks due to landslides, and other weather related occurrences, not only in winter but also in other seasons also. Even if the road is officially open, it’s dilapidated condition, bottlenecks, shooting of stones at places and heavy traffic movement cause frequent and often severe gridlocks. Both passenger and goods vehicles remain stranded along the highway for days. The road has also become a deathtrap as a fairly large number of travelers do get killed routinely in mishaps,” he rued.
Monga said that the frequent closure of the highway has also resulted into huge economic losses in the Valley where scarcity of essential commodities including food-grains and gasoline is a usual phenomenon particularly in winter.
“In the absence of the elected Government, people in J&K are facing worst crisis. It is responsibility of the administration to provide basic facilities to the people in this harsh winter,” he demanded.
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