“Beating drums on snow clearance doesn’t impress people when water crisis forces them to protests on highways.”Public protests are not new to Kashmir but when held against water shortage on highways in mid winter periods in send out a message that public service delivery system is not working well in the bone chilling cold of ‘Chillai Kalan’ under the newly elected Omar Abdullah led National Conference Government. Beating drums on snow clearance doesn’t impress people when water crisis forces them to protests on highways. Government would blindly blame dry winter for water shortage in North Kashmir’s Sopore town but the moderate snowfall witnessed twice so for this winter does not leave any scope for the Government to blame dry spells of winter for the water shortage in both the rural and urban parts of Jammu & Kashmir. The public outrage against the Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chowdry over his remarks on water shortage has attracted huge criticism from netizens on top social media sites across Jammu & Kashmir as the video showing him saying that previous generations went through severe crisis of water and power but they never ever talked about has gone viral on key micro blogging social networking sites like Face Book. As people never expected such a provocative remark over shortage of power or water from either the Deputy Chief Minister or any other top public functionary of Jammu & Kashmir Government administrative wisdom demands that Government gives put in public domain a statement of facts over the shortage of water and power in mid winter periods in Kashmir Valley.
“People are more deeply concerned about water and power reaches than the clearance of snow from the roads. The simmering water crisis as such necessitates immediate corrective measures from the Jal Shakti Department previously called Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department to ensure free flow of drinking water facilities during ongoing mid winter periods in both the urban and rural parts of Kashmir Valley”.
Experiences of decades have shown that during the harshest periods of winter the Government usually rushes water tankers to the areas grappling with water crisis but this time complaints about the inability of Jal Shakti Department to supply water in tankers to the areas hit by the water shortage are coming from both the urban and rural parts of Kashmir Valley. The water crisis in mid winter periods has not deepened as much as it is deepening this winter in Kashmir Valley for none of the obvious reasons. The hassle free water supply can be monitored through the control rooms already set up by the Government at district headquarters for smooth delivery of key public services particularly power and water in both rural and urban areas of Kashmir Valley. People are more deeply concerned about water and power reaches than the clearance of snow from the roads. The simmering water crisis as such necessitates immediate corrective measures from the Jal Shakti Department previously called Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department to ensure free flow of drinking water facilities during ongoing mid winter periods in both the urban and rural parts of Kashmir Valley.
