“Unfortunately even before the announcement of power cut schedules the long duration power cuts in towns and villages have started haunting people in Valley as usual.”
Before mid November the Government in Jammu & Kashmir has gone on a winter preparation mode with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah himself reviewing the preparedness of the Divisional Administration on delivery of services and goods during the forthcoming winter season. The meetings would be hopefully now followed by the winter preparedness review meetings by Deputy Commissioners of all the ten valley districts and what makes this year’s winter preparedness different from the previous years would be the engagement of the administration with the newly elected MLAs on delivery of key public services and availability of essential commodities during peak winter periods after a long gape of six years. The impact of the review meetings would be finally judged by the delivery of services and availability of essential commodities during the periods of heavy snowing and traffic blockades on Jammu-Srinagar most likely from mid-December. As there is still more than a month left for the commencement of 40 day old “Chillai-Kalan” from 21st December, the timing choosen for reviewing the preparedness of the administration to fight challenges of snow clearance and restoration of power in mid-winter periods in Kashmir valley is very appropriate. As decades old show that the operational preparedness of the Government often collapses under few inches of snow, the Government has went into preparedness mode a month before the commencement peak winter periods just to ensure that this year’s winter preparation action plans are quite different for those implemented in previous years. With Chief Minister himself announcing the decision that he would be personally overseeing the power curtailment schedule this year people expect no violation of power cut schedules. Unfortunately even before the announcement of power cut schedules the long duration power cuts in towns and villages have started haunting people in Valley as usual. With the appointment of a new Chief Engineer at Kashmir Power Development Corporation Ltd (KPDCL) the power supply should have not witnessed the disruptions it has started showing more than a month before the commencement of peak winter periods in Kashmir Valley.
“Since winter preparedness is all about hassle free delivery of services and availability of essential commodities at affordable rates , administrative wisdom demands that actions of Government are responsive to the situations developing during peak winter periods in Kashmir Valley. Ultimately this is the time for the Government to identify the lapses and plug the holes well in advance.”
Keeping in view the fact that power supply from Northern Power Grid Corporation is much bigger cause of erratic power supply than the power distribution during chilly season of winter, administrative wisdom demands that Government keeps its focus on power supply from Northern Power Grid Corporation to reduce the intensity of the failures in power distribution system during chilly months of winter in Valley. Like the mess in power distribution system the stock and supply position of essential commodities amid unprecedented hike in the prices of some of the essential commodities is another worry for the hapless populations in Kashmir Valley. Unfortunately since last two years the market checking teams of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Department have given up the practice of market checking Kashmir Valley. So the revival of the enforcement wing of the FCS&CA Department could be the first step towards restoration of stability in prices of essential commodities in Kashmir Valley. Since winter preparedness is all about hassle free delivery of services and availability of essential commodities at affordable rates, administrative wisdom demands that actions of Government are responsive to the situations developing during peak winter periods in Kashmir Valley. Ultimately this is the time for the Government to identify the lapses and plug the holes well in advance.
