The representatives of both Panchayat and Municipal bodies talk about politics and not restoration of major public services even after the growing public outcry against suspension of some key public services like power, ration, water and sanitation triggered by the season’s first major snowfall witnessed just two days ago. Though most of the key public services have been restored in majority of both uptown and old parts of Srinagar city but public outcry against the suspension of key public services in towns and villages does not head to any dead end. Though Chief Engineer Kashmir Power Development Corporation Ltd (KPDCL) has said “though there are some outages but there has been no major outage anywhere” but he has said so without taking serious note about the complaints that are coming from several remote areas of most of the districts of Kashmir Valley. Restoring power supplies in Srinagar within 24 hours does not mean that there is no major outage in any area of any district of Kashmir Valley. While the fact remains that complaints about power availability just for a couple of hours in the morning and couple of hours in the evening are galore both town and villages in most of the districts of Kashmir Valley barring Srinagar the Chief Engineer KPDCL does not talk about the no of transformers damaged in several parts of the valley districts after this season’s first snowfall on last Friday. Irrefutable fact is that power supply was not disturbed much in Srinagar due to the fact that just 2-3 inches snow was witnessed in Srinagar city. Not only was power supply disturbed in North and South Kashmir districts but transport services was also hit inter district routes as R& B department did not carry out any major snow clearance operation on any inter district route in Kashmir Valley. Due to disturbances in the movement of traffic on inter district routes the attendance of the employees in Government was very dismal for two consecutive days after the snowfall.
“Had the public representatives of both municipal and panchayat bodies been themselves present in their own areas of their jurisdiction, the helpers, I mean, Government functionaries would have been also present on ground to mitigate the sufferings of people in snow clapped areas of Kashmir Valley”.
Deputy Commissioners visiting few offices at district and sub district headquarters just to show their presence on ground amid snowing does not mean that the offices were fully functional in all the teshisls and community blocks of the districts across Kashmir. Even naives won’t believe that when attendance of the employees is thin, the normal working in Government offices can’t be run as usual. Helplines won’t make any difference when helpers, I mean, Government functionaries are not present on the ground to mitigate the sufferings of the people in snow clapped areas in Kashmir Valley. Here comes the role of public representatives. Had the public representatives of both municipal and panchayat bodies been themselves present in their own areas of their jurisdiction, the helpers, I mean, Government functionaries would have been also present on ground to mitigate the sufferings of people in snow clapped areas of Kashmir Valley.
