Srinagar Jan 19: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday said that the recent snowfall had made the life difficult for the people.
 Referring to the breakdown of services like electricity, water, food items and road connectivity in the wake of yesterday’s moderate snowfall the party president Mehbooba Mufti said the government should take immediate measures to ensure normal business of life.
 Mehbooba said though in some parts of Srinagar the electricity was restored after a 24 hour blackout most of the Valley still reels under complete darkness. She said the government had failed to improve upon the power situation during the last four years despite the fact that the state was generating and receiving more power than earlier.
 She said that there were many areas which complained of lack of action by the administration about the restoration of damaged electric poles and transmission lines, a fact that raises questions about the quality and standard of infrastructure development over the past few decades has normally, they should have been able to withstand the light snowfall.
 Recalling that the state in the past had been receiving very heavy snow fall and the system was restored without any delay Mehbooba said it is the lack of accountability that has resulted in chaotic handling of even routine challenges.
 The PDP President said that the Government should start making proper use of control rooms, weather alerts and fleets of snow cutters so that all the roads in the districts get cleared including the link roads and the roads in the higher reaches.
 The snow has caused medical emergencies which are unattended and large chunks of population are still not able to move from one place to another.
 Mehbooba said many areas especially in Srinagar city are water logged and the Government needs to respond to the calls for remedial measures.  Similarly, she said major towns like Islamabad (Anantnag), Pulwama, Shopian , Baramulla , Sopore , Budgam, Bandipura, Ganderbal, Kupwara etc  are facing acute drainage problems and it looks that the funds worth billions that are claimed to have gone to urban development have only accentuated the problem as a result of  dishonest and bad execution.
 The PDP President further added that the Government needs to make checks and balances regarding sale of essential supplies. There are reports that many essential supplies are missing from the CAPD stores and the vegetables, mutton and chicken is being sold on the exorbitant rates across Kashmir valley after the Srinagar Jammu highway got closed due to recent snowfall.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST