As the 40 day long “Chillai Kalan” has set in, the administration must ensure that people do not face problems during this harshest period of the winter. Unscheduled power cuts have to be avoided, the prices of essential commodities and other food items must remain under check, and public transport services have to be kept available during evening hours on all routes. All other related problems also need to be taken care of. Men and machinery have to be in a state of readiness in case of a snowfall during Chillai Kalan; and snow related problems must be tackled speedily and effectively. During the pre-Chillai Kalan period of this winter there was no disruption in normal life as no snowfall occurred in plain areas and the snowfall was light in upper reaches. However, freezing cold and power disruptions did cause some problems to people. The problems must not aggravate during Chilai Kalan. The frequent unscheduled power cuts have to be halted. After the onset of winter, the public transport started disappearing from roads in the evening. On several routes the commuters face lot of problems. With Chillai Kalan having begun, the availability of evening public transport is going to be hit further. The authorities must talk to transporters in this connection and solve this problem. Usually, the prices of vegetables, fruits and other essentials go up in winter. In fact, the prices have already started going up. A check has to be kept on this trend. Market checking must be intensified and action taken against those shopkeepers not adhering to the approved rate lists. Chillai Kalan arrived this time amid dry weather conditions. The conditions are likely to continue for some more days. Delay in snowfall may delay certain problems for people, but snow is also important for better water availability in summer – be it for irrigation, drinking or power generation purposes. Winter in Kashmir is incomplete without snowfall. Winter with it also brings additional problems for the people. And administration must solve the problems, which need solutions at the government level. Efforts should be made that the sufferings of people must get minimised with every winter in view of the growing development in various related sectors. But instead of getting solved, the problems get further complicated and this should not happen.
Arrival of ‘Chilai Kalan’
