Wrath of nature

Ours is a hilly state and most of its areas remain under snow for major part of winter. Harsh winters are nothing new to us since this has been the geography of our region ever since the dawn of history. Our ancestors have braved harshest winters and most inclement weather year after year. Many precious lives have been lost leaving no trace behind. This happened because man is helpless in face of nature’s fury. And with the passage of time we reconcile to our fate and conditions. That is how the life of human beings is made. This winter has been somewhat harsh for the people of the State especially those who live in upper reaches. For last one week we have faced unprecedented wrath of nature in entire Kashmir Valley and south of Pir Panchal especially in the districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Heavy snow and rains lashing the entire belt have disrupted road traffic, communication system, power supply, daily routine of life and has forced people remain indoors. Schools had to be closed down and many offices, banks and public concerns remained closed owing to severe weather conditions that hindered movement of men and material. Snowfall resulted in snapping of electric power in most of the affected areas which, in turn, also stopped supply of water to the citizens. This has been a bleak scenario in which life almost came to a standstill. People accepted the fury because they are helpless.
Snow, hailstorm, rain and chilling winds are not the share of our State only. There are countries in the world where nature is harsher than in our State. Take the case of Siberia or Balkan States or Canada and you find life far more difficult during winter months. Yet despite all this, those countries have devised means and systems that reduce the harshness of winter to a great extent and they run the life as a matter of routine. A number of factors are at work. Firstly, in western snow-bound countries infrastructure has been developed in such a way that it is rarely dysfunctional even when there is heavy snowfall. Secondly, the administration is so efficient as to allow only minimum time for restoration of power, water or gas and petroleum supply for the consumption of people and households. Traffic rules and administration along the highways and more especially along mountainous roads are such that very seldom vehicles and cars and commuters get stranded at odd places where life sustainability is at minimum. They know how much furious nature can be and to what extent they can defy it.
We in this state lack firstly the right type of infrastructure to meet natural calamities. We are meeting the challenge with antiquated planning, apparatus and infrastructure. What we need to do is to shift to modern methods of crisis resolution. It is unacceptable that with the snow fall of two or three feet hundreds of electric poles are damaged. Where is the engineering skill of grounding the poles so that these can withstand strong winds, rain and snow? Is there no possibility of laying underground cables at sites that are more vulnerable to heavy snowfall or lashing winds? We find that even with milder rainfall or wind storm our electric supply lines are disrupted. Such is their fragility that they cannot withstand a whiff and then we have shut down.
Likewise, why a system with the traffic department that would monitor and control is not there, say ten kilometer stretch along the national highway for response to impending snow or rain storm. There is lack of proper coordination and communication among the traffic police personnel who are deployed along important roads to keep an eye on the movement of vehicular traffic. This is one good way of preventing large number of vehicles getting stranded along the National Highway. There is need of creating eateries as well as shelters at vulnerable places and stretches along the national highway. We have disaster control and management organization. Is it not the duty of this organization to forewarn civil authorities about possible results and impact of developing snow or rain storms in critical areas of the State?  There should be a disaster control ministry in our state that would monitor threats from inclement weather or summer rain floods or cold waves that take the state in its grip during winter or in rainy season. After all, ours is a mountainous state and we are perennially at war with nature. We need to equip ourselves adequately to fight this war year after year. Quick power cut and wayside stranding of vehicles and passengers are not acceptable.

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