Snow finally brought smiles on the faces of city inhabitants. However, only a few inches of snow plunged the entire city into darkness. People who were celebrating snowfall within no time started cursing their fate for being born in a place like Kashmir where a few inches of snow are enough to derail the entire system.
Snow is a blessing but in Kashmir it brings troubles along with it. The outdated system of the Power Development Department (PDD) becomes the first causality and then essential commodities disappear from the market and prices skyrocket.
Only blessing is that people enjoy the scenic beauty of the Valley as snow drapes it white rest it brings more troubles than joy.
With science and technology becoming an important part of day to day life, Metrological department predicts snowfall well in advance. This makes authorities aware about the weather conditions well in advance despite that the ground situation in the Valley continues to be grim. One wonders why authorities don’t gear up well in advance to prevent Valley from plunging into darkness? Power failure during snowfall has become a routine, either Service Line in Pir Panjal range develops a technical snag or lines within the Valley develop faults.
Snowfall also leads to water taps running dry in the absence of electricity as the PHE department is unable to run its filtration plants. Closure of Srinagar-Jammu highway adds to the woes of people.
How long would a common Kashmiri face this on the pretext of weather vagaries? Ironically Kashmir is not the only place which witnesses snowfall during winter season, there are many foreign countries which receive huge snowfall during winter months but life never paralyzes there. However, on the contrary a few inches of snow are enough to bring the life to a standstill in the Valley as people prefer to stay indoors rather than venturing out.
A few inches of snow every year puncture the tall claims of the government about Kashmir being developed as number one tourist destination in the world. On paper the state government projects Kashmir as a paradise, as far as natural beauty of the Valley is concerned there is no doubt about it, but when it comes to facilities Kashmir is zero and it turns into hell for the people in winter.
When snow strikes fuel required to run the generators and the electricity needed to charge the inverters disappears. Various electronic gadgets become useless. People are left with a few options to illuminate their homes - cheap and the best way is to light candles. In 21st century candles are sold like hot cakes in the Valley during winter season.  
Government’s indifference and its failure to provide basic facilities to a common man during winter season, makes one believe that people who are in power cannot do anything to mitigate the sufferings of the people. It seems officials at the helm too are clueless and they themselves don’t know how to deal with the situation? Had they known what to do, Kashmir could have been a wonderful place to live in during winter season. One hopes that along with the passage of time life in Kashmir Valley becomes easier in winter; at present it looks impossible.

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Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST