Heavy snowfall of this year’s winter season triggered a chaos on Srinagar roads with people asking repeated question as to why the snow has not been cleared off the city roads including Lal Chowk area. People travelling on city roads out of compulsion amid heavy snow fall alleged that entire administration is in a deep slumber as there were a series of accidents in Srinagar alone where no snow clearance resulted din the slippery conditions all over.According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), people across Srinagar questioned the role of administration with regard to snow clearance operations. “See the condition of roads. This is Lal Chowk and no snow clearance operation is on in the heart of the city. Government apathy is at its peak and people are suffering,” Abdur Rashid, a pedestrian at Lal Chowk, told KNO.Slippery conditions were witnessed across Srinagar with people stating that scores of accidents were reported at Batamaloo, Hyderpora, Atahwajan, Pantha Chowk, Sonwar, Dalgate, Residency Road, Moulana Azad road and elsewhere in the Srinagar city. “A tree branch fell on a private vehicle that had four people including a child on board, at Pandrethan. They had a narrow escape while as the vehicle suffered damage on the front side,” said Reyaz Ahmed, who was travelling in his vehicle at the time of incident.
Waterlogging also irked people besides snow accumulation in city areas especially Lal Chowk, Moulana Azad Road, Regal Chowk, Jehangir Chowk and other areas of Srinagar. “We want to ask the administration where is snow clearance operation,” a group of elderly person at Jehangir Chowk told KNO Correspondent.Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said that response mechanism to deal with the situation having arisen from the inclement weather situation in the district has been fully activated and that all line departments on the ground in efforts to restore the affected services are functioning.According to official spokesman, DC Srinagar said the concerned departments are under strict instructions to ensure swift snow-clearance and dewatering of all roads and lanes especially those leading to important installations like hospitals and receiving stations and that the Traffic department has been directed to ensure maximum deployment for effective handling of traffic situation and movement in the City. He said that the nodal officers can be contacted Wali Mohammad Mir (PDD) at 9419055102, Nayeem Khan (R&B) at 9419014333, Bashir A Shah (F&ES) at 9419251908, A Rasheed Bhat (MED) at 7889624147, Imtiyaz Ahmad (Drainage) at 941900432, Nisar Ahmad (Sanitation) at 9419093213, Mushtaq A Wani (PMGSY) at 9419057213 and Nazir A Dar (PHE) at 9469545842. The said officers are operating under the supervision of Additional Deputy Commissioners M Hanief Balkhi (9419009472) and Khurshid A Shah (941943387).(KNO)