Thoughtscope: Kashmir and Snow – the Partners in Tow

11 January 2021

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The whole of last week beginning 2nd January 2021 witnessed heavy snowfall in Kashmir. As expected the snow threw normal life out of gear; roads blocked, electricity disrupted and water supply affected. However, one didn’t hear of essentials disappearing from the market, thanks to the expansion of markets and the stocking capacities over the last few decades since the eighties and the nineties. It is now observed that generally, supplies do not dry up immediately after the Jammu –Srinagar highway or other vital roads get blocked. Nonetheless, credit must also be given to the shopkeepers and to the government authorities who ensured that the vested interests did not get a free run. But the delay in the removal of snow from many roads and restoration of electricity brought in complaints as well. My own experience is that the task is never easy when the snowfall is as heavy as it was, the last time when more snow was received in Kashmir was in February, 2005. I was Divisional Commissioner then and the enormity of disruption and initial reports of loss of life and property brought the Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson to Srinagar for a first hand appraisal of the situation. I had another experience with the aftermath of heavy snowfall as DC Pulwama in 1986. Since then the number of snow clearing machines and equipment with the engineering department has increased manifold and therefore the snow removal from the roads is now much faster. However, similar improvement has not been seen in the speed and manner of restoration of electricity, particularly in the rural and outlying areas. Doubtless, the transformer banks have reduced the delay in the replacement of damaged transformers but there is need for more and better machinery and equipment in the power development department. In fact, there may be similar need for more machinery and equipment in all government departments tasked with the restoration work post all natural calamities including heavy snowfall.

I recall, till a few years back, heavy snowfall was not included in the list of natural calamities under the disaster rules unlike heavy rainfall, floods, wind storm etc and it was through various other administrative orders that relief for snow damages was disbursed. The exclusion of heavy snowfall from the list of eligible natural calamities is not peculiar to Jammu and Kashmir, the rules apply to the whole country. The latest reports from the media inform that the LG has now approved the inclusion of recent heavy snowfall as a natural calamity under the SDRF norms thereby making expenditure on relief and restoration from SDRF admissible.

The machinery and equipment and the methods in use for handling heavy snow emergencies in the advanced countries need to be studied so that these are acquired and adapted for the local conditions here in J&K. I can recall how most of western Europe came to a halt due to very heavy snow in December 2010 and the flights disrupted with most airports under heavy blanket of snow. I was travelling from the United States on return from a training course at Harvard at that time and had to change the airline and also skip Heathrow London which had been hit badly by a snow storm. With their technology and methods, the Europeans were able to get back on their feet earlier than anticipated, notwithstanding the unprecedented snow quantities and the extent of disruption. This is what we need to learn from them.

VC Kashmir University’s note of caution about the danger posed by concrete structures in earthquake prone Kashmir

Having known how some concrete residential houses collapsed under the weight of snow, VC Kashmir University Sh. Talat Ahmed who specialises in Geology and while speaking in a seminar cautioned against building big concrete houses in Kashmir as the whole valley falls in earthquake seismic zone IV and that how unsafe it was to live in big concrete houses. He advised that people in Kashmir should construct smaller and safer houses using timber and local materials. Taking a cue from there (apparently), Ms. Sayeda Afshana, a well known columnist wrote in Greater Kashmir under ‘Crumbling Rooftops’ that apart from being unsafe, the concrete houses bear no link with the culture and history of house construction in Kashmir. She was therefore also calling for a movement away from concrete house construction.

There is another worry. While the municipal laws prescribe incorporating the earthquake resistant features in the construction of houses, it is not known whether the house owners are following the protocols and whether the municipal authorities are enforcing universally and honestly? This needs to be checked!

Tapping into Volunteerism (unutilized resource) for restoration of basic services post damages

As we know, the culture of volunteerism has not struck roots in Jammu and Kashmir despite lot of talk and it is always the government that people look up to for redressal of their problems. Even the lanes and walkways within the colonies, wards and panchayats are not cleared of snow by the residents themselves on voluntary basis. This was visible in the recent snowfall when the residents in Srinagar complained about non-clearance of lanes and the Mayor complained of deficiencies in machinery and equipment with the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). In the bygone era, till the sixties and the seventies, the local residents in the cities and towns and in the villages used to clear the local lanes and minor roads themselves, voluntarily. That volunteerism is now dead but needs to be revived. This will have to be facilitated by the local bodies, be it the municipalities or the panchayats, through the ward committees and Gram Sabhas respectively. The people also need to understand that the government cannot and should not be doing everything and that spoon feeding is just not on. If the local bodies want volunteerism to complement their efforts on the ground, which is indisputably a laudable and desirable objective, then they will need to formalize this system of people’s participation through volunteers from the resident welfare associations (RWAS), ward committees and the panchayats.

Winter Economy of Kashmir

Despite the fact that the government draws up and formulates number of development plans every year, it will be wonderful if it draws up a plan to incentivize and augment the economic activities of the people during the winter months in Kashmir and other winter zone areas when people are generally confined to their homes and the daily working hours are limited. Although this kind of specific and focused exercise has probably never been undertaken earlier, at least I cannot recall any such thing, it will be great if a separate incentivized sub plan for the winter economy of Jammu and Kashmir is prepared to help the local people engage in productive income generating activities during the cold winter months. In my view, it is high time this is done and to start with, agriculture, animal husbandry and allied sectors, handicrafts, handloom and cottage industries may be taken up for identification of the specific activities. Traditionally, the winter in Kashmir was never assumed to be a period of full rest and no work; the locals including the rural folk would be doing something or the other to keep themselves busy and productive.

Washington and the Capitol Hill fiasco

Another defining development during the week gone by was the storming of Capitol hill building in Washington on 6 th January, 2021, by angry Trump supporters while the United States Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden’s election for the President. The scenes were unprecedented and horrendous and must have surely done a lot of damage to the reputation and standing of the United States as the world’s foremost democracy, many call it the greatest democracy. The silver lining was that the country’s institutions and its two houses of representatives displayed commendable resilience, resisting all attacks on the election process and the democratic exercise. The credit must also go to the Vice President Mike Pence who bucked his own boss to do the right thing, to uphold the verdict of the people although he himself was on the losing side. It is hoped that the Americans will now leave behind the acrimonies and unite across all divides to put their house in order and once again hold the torch of democracy to rest of the world.

(Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Retd. IAS, is former Advisor to Governor, J&K and Former Chief Information Commissioner, J&K)