People's Democracy

J&K SNOWFALL HAVOC

CPI(M) Leaders Visit Affected Areas

Tarigami addressing the affected people

EVEN as the nation was coping with the unprecedented devastation of tsunami waves, another natural calamity in the form of heavy snow-fall struck the state of Jammu & Kashmir. During February 15 to 16, heavy snowfall was recorded in the valley, the highest after  a gap of 42 years. It was followed by raining stones and snow storms which resulted in the death of more than 300 people in just Qazigund area of Anantnag district in South Kashmir. Many more have perished in other parts of the state, including the Himalayan and Pir Panchal regions of Jammu province which include the border disricts of Poonch and Rajouri and the remote areas of Kishtwar in Doda district.

Avalanches hit the Jammu-Srinagar national highway disrupting the vehicular traffic for more than 20 days, which compounded the problems of the people of valley.

The state unit of the CPI(M) under the leadership of M Y Tarigami visited the affected areas and took stock of the situation. Tarigami and M Yaqoob Ganai distributed blankets, lanterns and other essentials to the victims.

Tarigami also impressed upon the government to airlift the thousands of poor stranded passengers at Jammu bus stand to Srinagar. It is worth to mention here that poor labourers from Kashmir valley migrate to the other parts of the country during winter for labour and the majority of stranded people were these poor labourers.

The CPI(M) state unit has been very critical over official apathy and its strong reaction was pivotal in pushing the state machinery into action. Party state secretary M Y Tarigami moved a motion in the state legislative assembly, which was in session, seeking its adjournment in order to enable the MLAs to be with their constituents and render help to them in the emergency like situation that has gripped the state. Prior to this, the CPI(M) legislators boycotted the governor’s address in protest against the inefficiency and inaction of the government to tackle the situation and against the delay in launching rescue operations.

It was after the severe criticism from CPI(M) and some other people that the state machinery, though late, swung into action and started rescue and relief operations, particularity in Waltengoo, Niginpora and Branahard villages of Anantnag district. However the only supply line to the valley, the national highway, remains closed till the time of writing this, subjecting the people to severe shortage of essential commodities and medical facilities.

It may be mentioned that Tarigami was the first political leader in the entire state who immediately after the snowfall organised a press conference in Jammu and gave some valuable suggestions to the government to deal with the situation. Among other things Tarigami suggested that the Jammu-Srinagar national highway has already outlived its existence, and the plan for an alternative road which was formulated in 1995 needed to be implemented to provide relief to the people of the state.