CPI (M) State Secretary Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami Monday said that the tall claims of the administration on alertness had been exposed with snowfall, especially in south Kashmir, causing massive power breakdown, road blockades and scarcity of essential commodities.
In a statement issued here, Tarigami said that despite the prediction by the Meteorological department, the administration was ill-prepared for the snowfall. “Although snowfall is not something new to the region, the administration seems resisting change in its rusty work culture. With snowfall, the entire administration comes to a grinding halt, which is reflective of a dire need for strengthening of disaster preparedness in the region,” he said in the statement. “The snow is yet to be cleared on several roads in rural areas across Kashmir, resulting in hardship to the general public.”
Tarigami said that for meeting the challenges, the administration needed to ensure better coordination between various departments, especially those providing essential services.
“The government must ensure that there is no chaos for scarcity of essential commodities including LPG, kerosene oil and ration while emergency services should be monitored and damaged power distribution lines repaired immediately,” he said in the statement. “The snowfall has resulted in massive power breakdown which has plunged Kashmir, especially remote areas in south Kashmir into darkness.”
The CPI (M) leader asked the administration to expedite the restoration of power supply as people had been braving biting cold. “Power Development Department has failed to create a buffer stock of electricity transformers to address the situation surfaced due to damaged transformers,” he said.