Dr Lubna Khan who specializes in maternal and child health, said, “Because of unrest in the Valley for past six months and a complete shutdown, people have suffered huge financial losses. Due to lack of adequate resources and finances, people have not been able to stock up ration, clothes and other utilities to survive the lash of this weather”.
Dr Khan said the worst affected are the children in the Valley as their education has suffered tremendously. “First, due to shutdown, then due to winters, children’s studies have got affected the most. Sending them for personal tuitions is also tough in this harsh climate,” she said.
Kashmiri women carry firewood as they walk towards their home in Kokernag some 100 kms south of Srinagar.
“While the rich can afford wood and heaters, our little ‘kangri’ with coal in it is the only preparation we do as the winter sets in,” said 45-year-old Asma, a teacher who lives in Ghat Mahalla, Awantipora with her husband and four children. Her house was flooded during the 2014 floods and she now lives on rent. She said, “As taps freeze and we get zero access to water, we take our buckets and fill water from the nearby river. We boil that water, filter it and drink it. It’s a hard exercise but we are left with no choice but to survive this extremity.”
In the above image, Kashmiri villagers carry drinking water pots along a snow-covered road. Taking pregnant women to the hospitals for child delivery is also a task, specially in rural areas and delay in taking the woman to the hospital also leads to undue complications or in some cases, death of a new born. Dr Khan told NDTV that a similar instance happened last week where a healthy pregnant woman from Singerwani delivered a stillborn as due to heavy snow, she could not reach the hospital on time and had to resort to a local nurse’s help. “Snow clearing machines are the need of the hour and must be put to use without fail,” she asserted.
The icy temperatures have frozen many bodies of water in Kashmir as well as drinking water taps. In the above image, a Kashmiri woman is seen washing clothes, few kilometres away from her house where she could spot some water flowing.
“The roads get covered in thick sheets of ice and the drainage system gets choked. Having electricity at home is a like a dream,” said 24-year-old Ifat Gazia, who lives in Srinagar. The Dal Lake, she said, which freezes, adds to the hardships of people who live in the lake in houseboats. “They need to break the thick ice and then only they can reach the banks and buy basic amenities,” she added.
A Kashmiri woman cooks dinner using an electric heater set next to a traditional oven in a neighbourhood.
“When it snows, the Srinagar-Jammu highway gets blocked and that impacts the supplies of vegetables and groceries. There’s shortage of gas supply too, so that affects the functioning of our kitchens,” said Farhana Latief, student and resident of Sopore, North Kashmir.
A Kashmiri man chops firewood with an axe to prepare fireplace at his home.
Syed Muntazir Raza who stays in Pulwama said the deaths of the elderly are the highest during this period as they are unable to bear this harsh climate. Also, it is difficult to reach the hospital on time as the roads either get blocked, become narrow, slippery and difficult to navigate. A slip would mean that we straightaway head to bones and joints hospital.
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