Not a new experience for people of Kashmir to find themselves at the receiving end when they find themselves stranded during chilly months of winter in the winter capital Jammu or any place on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in the aftermath of the closure of the highway for days together. Though the fast growing awakening on public accountability generated hopes of an end to the sufferings of the Kashmiri travelers on Srinagar –Jammu highway which they used to face in mid seventies or mid eighties but ironically the travelers on Srinagar-Jammu highway face the same situations which they used to face decades back and equally distressing it is that the authorities of civil and police administration in both Srinagar and Jammu remain as unconcerned about the plight of stranded passengers as their predecessors used to remain in mid-seventies or mid eighties. This month the fresh snowing triggered avalanche at Banihal and landslides at various places forcing the traffic authorities to close the road and consequently hundreds of passengers found themselves stranded in Jammu the winter capital and at various places on Srinagar Jammu highway for about six days. Ironically the passengers stranded in Jammu the winter capital were left to fend for themselves by authorities of both the civil and police administration. Though National Conference Provincial President and former MLA Devender Singh Rana visited the stranded passengers but he did nothing to mitigate the sufferings of the stranded passengers except holding a photo session with the stranded people for the purpose of unwanted publicity. No political leader bothered to utter even a single word against the civil and police administration against its failures in mitigating the sufferings of the stranded passengers in winter capital Jammu.
While the civil and police administration could provide make shift tents for shelter to the stranded passengers , the affluent class Kashmiris settling in hundreds in Jammu for winter months could have also arranged tents at affordable rates for providing the basic shelter facilities to the stranded passengers. Though a separate disaster management department has been established by the government long back but department does not tend to reach out to the sufferers of a helpless situation like the one faced by the stranded passengers in winter capital Jammu last week.
Though thousands of Kashmiri families are settling in winter capital Jammu and its peripheries during chilly months of winter but not even a single family bothered to initiate a volunteery effort for providing even the basic facilities of shelter to the stranded passengers. While the civil and police administration could provide make shift tents for shelter to the stranded passengers , the affluent class Kashmiris settling in hundreds in Jammu for winter months could have also arranged tents at affordable rates for providing the basic shelter facilities to the stranded passengers. Though a separate disaster management department has been established by the government long back but department does not tend to reach out to the sufferers of a helpless situation like the one faced by the stranded passengers in winter capital Jammu last week.
