Major Power Breakdown Due to Incessant Snowfall in Kashmir
SRINAGAR; With the Srinagar-Jammu highway as well as the Srinagar airport closed for all operations, a major power and communication breakdown has hit the Kashmir valley due to incessant snowfall since Monday.
Confusion and chaos were more visible on Monday as there was no communication from the State government about closing down of the high and higher secondary schools, colleges and universities. The Departments of School Education and Higher Education did not respond to phone calls from the common people and mediapersons. Middle and primary schools have been closed for three days. Human activity has come to a halt due to incessant snowfall and massive accumulation in most of the valley.
Reports said that the authorities had shut down entire power supplies to the valley, including the summer capital of Srinagar, on Monday night for fear of damage to human life. Large number of trees have been uprooted, blocking roads and getting entangled in transmission lines. As a result, there was no power supply in any part of the valley on Tuesday. Reports from Budgam said that four pylons of the 220 kv Wagora-Budgam-Zainakoot transmission line collapsed, raising serious questions on the quality of the recently commissioned work and adding to the hardships of common people.
Chief Engineer System Operations Kashmir Gul Ayaz did not respond to phone calls but officials in the Power Development Department said that 75 per cent of the area in Western and Northern Kashmir could be hit due to the Budgam breakdown.
Kashmir’s Divisional Commissioner Shailendar Kumar told that the power supplies could not be restored as long as the snowfall continues. “Officials are also human beings. They can’t risk their lives”, he said. He was, however, hopeful of an improvement in weather by Tuesday afternoon. “Officials of Directorate of Meteorology have told us that the snowfall could subside by late Tuesday”, Mr. Kumar said. He said that most of the surface communication links were closed though the snow clearance operations were in progress despite continuous snowfall in all 10 districts. Waterlogging, according to him, was also emerging as a major problem as the dewatering operations is badly hit in Srinagar city.
Emergency medical and surgical procedures were in place in almost all hospitals in Srinagar but closed in most district hospitals. “We can manage some systems with power inverters and diesel generators for a couple of days”, said an official of the Medical Education department.
Superintendent of Police (National Highway) Dr. Haseeb Mughal said that the 300-km Srinagar-Jammu highway had been closed due to heavy landslides on Ramban-Banihal patch besides heavy snowfall from Srinagar to Bahihal, on either side of Jawahar Tunnel. Traffic was not allowed from either side on the highway on Tuesday even as all the stranded vehicles reached their destinations of Srinagar and Jammu on Monday evening.
Intra-valley train services have also been shut temporarily. Dr. Mughal said there was no chance of restoration of traffic on the highway till Wednesday afternoon. He said that he also opened a page ‘Highway Traffic Police’ on Facebook which was being updated every half-an-hour with the latest status of the highway.
Superintendent of Police, Anti-hijacking, Manzoor Ahmad Dalal told that all civil aviation operations on Srinagar Airport had been closed due to snow accumulation on the tarmac and continuous snowfall. “Yesterday, we operated all 19 flights. There’s no possibly of any flight operation till 4 p.m. today. May be the airport would remain shut down even tomorrow”, Mr. Dalal said. He said that usually, 22 flights operate at Srinagar Airport a day this season, carrying 6,000 passengers daily in the Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi sector.
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| Picture of a tree, fell on power pole in South Kashmir's Shopian town (Pic by Ayaan Maqsood) |
Confusion and chaos were more visible on Monday as there was no communication from the State government about closing down of the high and higher secondary schools, colleges and universities. The Departments of School Education and Higher Education did not respond to phone calls from the common people and mediapersons. Middle and primary schools have been closed for three days. Human activity has come to a halt due to incessant snowfall and massive accumulation in most of the valley.
Reports said that the authorities had shut down entire power supplies to the valley, including the summer capital of Srinagar, on Monday night for fear of damage to human life. Large number of trees have been uprooted, blocking roads and getting entangled in transmission lines. As a result, there was no power supply in any part of the valley on Tuesday. Reports from Budgam said that four pylons of the 220 kv Wagora-Budgam-Zainakoot transmission line collapsed, raising serious questions on the quality of the recently commissioned work and adding to the hardships of common people.
Chief Engineer System Operations Kashmir Gul Ayaz did not respond to phone calls but officials in the Power Development Department said that 75 per cent of the area in Western and Northern Kashmir could be hit due to the Budgam breakdown.
Kashmir’s Divisional Commissioner Shailendar Kumar told that the power supplies could not be restored as long as the snowfall continues. “Officials are also human beings. They can’t risk their lives”, he said. He was, however, hopeful of an improvement in weather by Tuesday afternoon. “Officials of Directorate of Meteorology have told us that the snowfall could subside by late Tuesday”, Mr. Kumar said. He said that most of the surface communication links were closed though the snow clearance operations were in progress despite continuous snowfall in all 10 districts. Waterlogging, according to him, was also emerging as a major problem as the dewatering operations is badly hit in Srinagar city.
Emergency medical and surgical procedures were in place in almost all hospitals in Srinagar but closed in most district hospitals. “We can manage some systems with power inverters and diesel generators for a couple of days”, said an official of the Medical Education department.
Superintendent of Police (National Highway) Dr. Haseeb Mughal said that the 300-km Srinagar-Jammu highway had been closed due to heavy landslides on Ramban-Banihal patch besides heavy snowfall from Srinagar to Bahihal, on either side of Jawahar Tunnel. Traffic was not allowed from either side on the highway on Tuesday even as all the stranded vehicles reached their destinations of Srinagar and Jammu on Monday evening.
Intra-valley train services have also been shut temporarily. Dr. Mughal said there was no chance of restoration of traffic on the highway till Wednesday afternoon. He said that he also opened a page ‘Highway Traffic Police’ on Facebook which was being updated every half-an-hour with the latest status of the highway.
Superintendent of Police, Anti-hijacking, Manzoor Ahmad Dalal told that all civil aviation operations on Srinagar Airport had been closed due to snow accumulation on the tarmac and continuous snowfall. “Yesterday, we operated all 19 flights. There’s no possibly of any flight operation till 4 p.m. today. May be the airport would remain shut down even tomorrow”, Mr. Dalal said. He said that usually, 22 flights operate at Srinagar Airport a day this season, carrying 6,000 passengers daily in the Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi sector.
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