With light snowfall causing slippery road conditions in Baramulla, the transport remained by and large off the roads on Sunday. The snowfall also caused widespread power disruption and partial interruption in drinking water supply.
If few inches of snowfall causes such power disruption one can only imagine the situation in a major snowfall, exclaimed Fayaz Ahmad, a local businessman.
In Rafiabad and its adjoining areas, around four inches of snow was recorded on Sunday. The locals here alleged that the snow clearing machines were not deployed by the authorities with the result they faced severe inconvenience.
“The authorities’ failure to clear the roads from snow caused severe hardships to the people. The accumulation of the snow caused slippery road condition and caused some minor accidents in the area,” said Bashir Ahmad of Shutloo Rafiabad Baramulla. Meanwhile, moderate snowfall was recorded in the upper reaches of district Kupwara, including Machil, Keran, Sadna Top, Monbal, Wader Balla, Nowgam, Reshwari while in the plains it was 3-4 inch snowfall.
Many candidates who had to appear in Jammu and Kashmir Bank Associates exams in Sopore faced lot of problems in reaching the examination centre and several candidates lost the opportunity of sitting in exams. “Since I had to come from Karnah, it took me several hours to reach Kupwara and therefore could not attend the exam which was scheduled to start at 1pm,” said Zubair Ahmad an aspiring candidate. He demanded special examination for those who missed the exam.
Zubair said that authorities should have kept an examination centre in Kupwara as well for the convenience of the candidates coming from far-flung areas.
In Dardson area of Kralpora a minor identified as Momin Mohudin son of Ghulam Mohudin had a miraculous escape when an HT transmission line fell on the road. However, a goat and a dog died in the incident. Several people across the district complained about erratic power cuts since Sunday morning.
Block Development Council chairman Langate, Showkat Hassan Pandit: “Whenever there is snowfall, be it moderate or heavy, electricity disappears for several days in the district.”
Erratic power cuts continued in areas including Upper Qaziabad, Lower Qaziabad, Pohru Chakla, Mawer, Langate, Main Town Handwara, Upper Rajwar, Lower Rajwar, Magam, Vilgam, Tarathpora, Main Town Kupwara, Trehgam, Kralpora, Lolab, Sogam, Lalpora. On most of the routes across district due to slippery conditions, drivers and passengers faced difficulties. People across district complained about water logging.