Highway troubles and faulty planning
Once again Kashmir Valley is faced with a crisis like situation as many products like fuel, LPG, eatables, medicine and various products needed in our day to day life are out of stock.
People across Kashmir have complained of shortage of these products even though the divisional commissioner had ordered rationing of products in the wake of closure of the highway.
People on Saturday and Sunday could be seen in large numbers thronging various petrol outlets to stock up fuel but had to return disappointed owing to shortage of supplies.
Kashmir valley has a daily requirement of 34,000 LPG cylinders. However, the Valley is receiving only a few hundred cylinders right now as dozens of trucks laden with LPG cylinders are stuck on the highway for the past several days.
The problem gets worse as traffic authorities are not allowing truckers to run on the new highway route that is shorter and is connected to Nashri tunnel which will make their travel easier and less time consuming.
The trucks are being asked to travel through the old highway route instead of Nashri tunnel and because of landslides near Kud, fuel tankers and LPG-laden trucks are stuck.
The situation on supplies front is so critical that the Governor Satya Pal Malik, called an informal meeting of the state administrative council (SAC) on Sunday to discuss the supply situation of petroleum and other products in Kashmir, which at present is critically low.
The governor said the availability of petrol in the Valley is adequate to meet the needs for just one day and that of diesel for four days and there is no stock of LPG in the Valley.
This is a result of the earlier blockage of the highway for seven days and the ongoing blockage for the past four days, leading to disruption of supplies from Jammu to Srinagar. What is adding to the concern of the common man is the disturbing statements issued by the officers of the administration.
Since the past few days various orders were issued by officials which not only led to the crisis like situation but created a fear psychosis among the masses. The Directorate of health, CAPD and even the divisional commissioner’s office here issued orders that terrified the people to such an extent that a mad rush was created with people rushing to hoard things including medicines, eatables and fuel.
The orders issued were so disturbing that people felt that something untoward is being planned and they in a situation of panic started hoarding various products which also created a crisis in the market.
The situation though alarming has once again raised questions about the present status of the highway and whether the highway is at all dependent for the supplies that the valley needs during the winter months.
Given the experience of past few years now, it can be said with ease that the highway has lost dependability as it remains closed for most part of the winter now.
The closure of the highway has once again raised several questions about our planners and the ill policies they conceive for not keeping an apt storage of essential supplies in case the highway remains closed for longer periods during winter months.
The ill planning was evident from the fact that the administration tried to hide the reality as the divisional commissioner’s office issued a statement that proved to be factually wrong.
The Governor in the meeting called in Jammu on Sunday admitted that the LPG supply in the valley is exhausted still the statement issued by the div com’s office mentioned availability of 14,000 LPG cylinders in the valley.
KV Network
