Failure yet again
A failure is staring on the face of the civil administration in Kashmir yet again, but the officials at the helm do not bother to admit it. In fact they are browbeating about everything being normal and are even claiming credit for it.
This time around the failure of the administration has been exposed quite badly as it very shoddily overlooked the need to augment capacity for stocking essentials in the landlocked region despite the experience of past few years where the national highway has acted rogue leading to a crisis like situation many a times during these years.
Following the frequent closure of the highway for several days at a time struck panic in the markets in Kashmir as fuel outlets ran dry, cooking gas was and is still not available and worse even the grocery stores are running out of stock in almost all the vicinities of the Valley.
Apart from the closure of the highway, lack of storage capacity to ration stocks including gas, petroleum in Kashmir compounds the problem. All this has resulted due to no fresh proposals being worked out to augment infrastructural capacities including capacity to stock enough petrol and diesel, commissioning new bottling plants have been taken up with oil marketing companies, resulting in shortage of supplies when the road remains closed for days.
Same is the case with stocking food and other items that are consumed in huge numbers across the valley. So far this winter the highway has witnessed closure for most of the days starting November. This closure has led to a tremendous shortage of meat and poultry products as well. Even the FCI has limited stocks available with them to be distributed among its retail network in the valley.
The situation is turning out to be precarious as most of the times the hapless consumers are facing shortages and the government is expressing its inability to come over it. Kashmir has a daily requirement of almost 13000 LPG cylinders but given the way the oil companies are pushing in the supplies due to closure of the highway, the crisis seems far from being over.
Only one company is involved in bottleing of LPG cylinders here but the plant too becomes dysfunctional as the highway closure reduces the supply of gas filled tankers to reach here. Same stands true for petroleum products as the valley cannot stock these products for use beyond 21 days of blockade.
As far as the supplies of food stuff and other products is concerned, the Valley does not have cost and forwarding agents based here who could have managed ample stocks needed here during the hour of crisis.
What is being witnessed that the administration has failed miserably to tend to the needs of the people in the valley. It is not even bothering to learn from the ways it is adopting in other regions like Ladakh.
For Ladakh region, every year from June onwards petroleum products and cooking gas are transported to ensure its availability throughout the year, but for Kashmir valley there is no such contingency plan.
