People unable to contact authorities to highlight grievances
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 26: The heaviest spell of rainfall since last night has thrown the entire Jammu province into unprecedented chaos, snapping power supply in almost all districts and causing acute disruption in cellular services of most of the service providers, thereby leaving people helpless and cut off even from the authorities supposed to come to their rescue.
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As per the reports from different districts of Jammu province, the downpour which continued since last night not only triggered landslides, flash floods and water-logging but also wreaked havoc on the fragile infrastructure of the Power Development Department (PDD).
A large number of electric poles were uprooted, transmission lines damaged and transformers rendered defunct, plunging almost the entire Jammu province into darkness. As a precautionary measure, the Power Development Department (PDD) was forced to suspend supply in several areas, leaving lakhs of residents without electricity till the filing of this report.
From Jammu city to peripheral districts like Udhampur, Kathua, Samba, Ramban, Reasi, Rajouri and Doda, the situation was identical——powerless homes and anxious residents desperately waiting for restoration. What made matters worse was the absence of any clarity on when electricity would return, as the simultaneous acute disruption in cellular services of most of the service providers made it virtually impossible for people to approach the authorities of the Power Development Department (PDD) to seek updates on restoration work.
Some officials of the PDD, who were contacted on landline numbers, said that massive damage had crippled the restoration process, with waterlogged approach roads, uprooted trees and landslides blocking access to large number of damaged sites. They maintained that teams had been deployed, but the scale of destruction was such that normal supply could not be resumed quickly.
The situation turned so grim that even officials of the PDD admitted they were unable to coordinate restoration work. “We are unable to establish contact with field staff due to the acute disruption in cellular services of most of the service providers,” they said. The acute disruption in cellular services created a situation where even Government officials could not speak to each other, let alone the general public approaching them for redressal of their grievances due to massive rainfall.
Across wide swathes of the province, mobile calls could not connect and internet services either vanished or slowed to an unusable crawl. Families were unable to contact each other to check on their safety and people could not reach the administration to highlight their grievances.
Because of the acute disruption in cellular services, even the officials of the service providers could not be contacted to ascertain the reasons behind the snapping of services or the timeframe for their restoration.
A number of people contacted EXCELSIOR through landline numbers and vented their frustration at what they described as “systemic collapse” in the face of natural calamity. “We have no electricity, no mobile network, no way to seek help. Every year rains wreak havoc, but the Government has done nothing to strengthen basic services,” they added.
The crisis also crippled grievance redressal systems. Normally, residents in rain-hit areas use helpline numbers and online platforms to report damage, blocked roads or power breakdowns. With both electricity and cellular services out, people had no channel left to reach out. “We tried calling the PDD control room several times, but there was no signal. How are people supposed to survive if they cannot even inform the Government about their plight?” they asked.
Despite repeated attempts the authorities of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department could not be approached to ascertain damages caused by the massive rainfall to the water supply lines and other infrastructure. Moreover, due to snapping of power supply nobody knows whether the PHE Department will be able to supply water to the people.
As Jammu province gropes in the dark and cellular services of most of the service providers remain crippled, the rain fury has once again exposed not just nature’s might but also the inability of the system to safeguard its people.
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