Rayees Ahmad Kumar
On 27th of December, both plain areas as well as the hill stations witnessed a moderate to very heavy snowfall. This all happened on unexpected lines of the predictions of the meteorological department. The long dry spell thus ended after entire valley was wrapped by a thick layer of snow.
As per the data available with the Metrological department, such a huge snowfall was recorded three years ago. The last couple of years had remained almost snow and rainless, due to which agricultural and farming sector was badly affected. This year, while the snow has fallen heavily, farmers and orchardists are hopefully expecting a greater yield as watering is prerequisite to a good crop. Our water resources like lakes, rivers, ponds and wells had dried up many months ago, to infuse life Into them, it was utmost important that the dry spell must end at an earliest.
The white covering has transformed entire valley into a winter wonderland. The moment snow started falling, passengers and tourists came out from their vehicles, engaged in taking selfies amidst falling snowflakes and uploaded the same on social media. Tourists both local and foreign were overjoyed to enjoy the skiing at world famous Gulmarg the meadow of flowers.
As the new year celebrations are approaching, domestic and foreign people are busy these days in making bookings for Pahalgam, Sonamarg, Gulmarg and other health and hill resorts of valley. Winter tourism will get a boost through this welcomed major snowfall. During the period of long dry spell, special prayers were being held continuously in mosques, shrines and other khanqahs across the valley to invoke rain and snow. The thirst of our arid and dry lands has now been quenched, birds are singing the melodious songs to express their gratitude to Almighty and an evergreen smile is evident on the faces of the people.
Snow is deeply rooted in our cultural heritage, decades ago our winters would be very displeasing and annoying as communication and transportation remained disrupted for months together and daily lives of the common people too were badly hit due to closure of major routes. However with the advancement of technology and better road conditions, our winters aren’t now as disturbing as it used to be in the past. Previously we were relying on sun dried vegetables like bottle guards, spinach, tomatoes, dandelion, collard greens and beans only but nowadays due to better road conditions and commissioning of the major tunnels, the Jammu Srinagar national highway the vital link connecting Kashmir valley with rest of the world is restored within hours even after a heavy snowfall to supply the fresh goods and vegetable stock imported from other regions of the country.
However due to sudden major snowfall, almost all the routes across the valley were blocked, power supply remained affected and water supply also got badly hampered. As a result, people’s sufferings increased manifold, patients found it difficult to be brought timely to the nearest hospitals and poor people who hadn’t stocked their eatables in advance had to bear the brunt of sudden inclement weather conditions. People were seen returning to their homes by walking on snow surfaces as public vehicular movement halted immediately after the accumulation of few inches of snow that made the roads slippery. Private vehicles were running at snails pace which took them hours to cover very short distances. Many 33KV and 11KV transmission lines were down as the big towers couldn’t resist the massive damage caused by mighty snowfall. Many transformers in rural areas got completely damaged which further aggravated the situation and made electricity almost impossible to be restored swiftly.
While I am writing this write-up, a news about the death of an infant after the woman was forced to deliver at home due to road closure in Kokernag is making rounds on internet. Access to district headquarters from rural areas has completely been snapped, both rural and urban areas are reeling under darkness and birds are finding it challenging to get grains. Thus it becomes imperative to look after and taking care of these two legged creatures by feeding them and protecting them while they are entangled and lost.
In a true example of hospitality, the local people and civil society members of Gund Ganderbal opened the doors of mosque to provide shelter to the stranded tourists. On Friday most of the residents through social media messages invited the tourists to be accommodated by them in their homes. They shared their contact numbers to welcome non local passengers in their homes thus displaying real philanthropy. Kashmir university postponed most of the exams scheduled for next two days, while JK SSRB also postponed the written test scheduled on Sunday. IGNOU the world’s largest university didn’t alter it’s already announced exam dates. Police and local people were seen providing a helping hand to needy people especially patients to reach them hospitals and stranded passengers by helping them to move their vehicles. In Agroo village of Devsar, an eight month pregnant lady was safely taken to hospital by a team of local police station and ensured her safe delivery.
Meanwhile all the flights at Srinagar international airport were cancelled due to erratic weather conditions and none of the planes could either take off or land on Saturday. From Navayug Tunnel to Mirbazar, hundreds of vehicles remained stranded on the NH-44 due to slippery road conditions and accumulation of heavy snow, no green signal was given by the road authorities and it is yet to be restored. Sangaldan Baramulla rail link also remained disrupted which serves as the main connection line between the two regions and helps thousands of daily passengers to commute.
Though this heavy and unexpected snowfall brought the normal life to a standstill, people across length and breadth of valley expressed their excitement and were thrilled to embrace the seasons first major snowfall. Now in the coming year, we hope our water resources to be enriched by plenty of water, agriculture and horticulture sector to thrive and tourism to get a boost.
(The author hails from Qazigund and can be reached at [email protected])
