Srinagar: Though people across the state especially Kashmir Valley were waiting with bated breath for the arrival of snow, but the moment it started to snow the administration was caught unawares yet again. The first causality which surfaced soon after it started to rain was the electricity.

Most parts of the Valley woke up to the reality that the administration has failed to learn any lessons. The Power Development Department (PDD) kept its calendar with failure as a snag due to rains and snow had left most parts of the Valley groping in darkness.

Winter no doubt is synonymous with hardships but the problems are compounded due to ill prepared authorities. Every year it is the same old story of road blockade, curtailment in electricity supplies and shortage of essentials.

Decades of dealing with the same problem should ideally have helped authorities to prepare better and ensure that winters don’t mean the same unassailable problems for the public. But unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

However, if the statements from the officials at the helm of affairs are anything to go by, there should be no scope of a repetition of such ill preparedness this winter. No less than the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had issued instructions to the concerned authorities to be prepared to deal with the winter vagaries.  Additionally, the discourse around the need to prepare better started well in time leaving officials with no scope to cry that they were caught with a sudden eventuality.

Efforts must be made to mitigate the crisis that is bound to come through acute shortage of electricity supply. Not only is there a massive gap between the requirement to availability, the irresponsible behaviour of concerned officials has meant that the electricity distribution infrastructure remains in a shambles.

This is evident by the fact that few inches of snow or even mild rains turn the system upside down leaving the hapless people groping for cover. The power department needs to be made aware to the fact that how important this department is as the people have been left with no other option of energy available during winters.

The necessity of power being supplied to the consumers, both domestic and commercial can be gauged by the fact that every aspect of life is hit whenever a power failure happens. The private sector is hit the most as all aspects are dependent on power supply. 

But all this notwithstanding, the administration must be made answerable and responsible to deal with any sort of eventualities whether these emerge out of emergency situations or otherwise. 

Guest