Gurez Valley braces for winter

Bandipora: The Bandipora administration has almost completed its preparations to stock fuel, ration, and medicines in north Kashmir’s Gurez Valley as winter approaches.

The valley, about 85 km from the Bandipora district headquarters, is cut off for nearly six months in winter due to heavy snowfall.

Life in the valley, which experiences the harshest winters, almost comes to a standstill in the winter months, with locals relying on traditional ways to cope with the cold.

The locals, if not completely, largely are dependent on sun-dried vegetables and different lentils, which are organic and grown locally.

The snow, which triggers the closure of the Bandipora-Gurez road, also cuts off Kashmir internally from the further Tulail region.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Bandipora, Owais Ahmad told Greater Kashmir that stocking essentials was an important component of preparing for winters in Gurez.

He said that they had stocked 80 percent of the fuel for electricity provided through generators.

Ahmad said that the remaining percentage was in transit and would be stocked by October end.

He said that the ration depots within the valley were stocked to their full capacity.

Ahmad said that the stocking of LPG would also be completed by month’s end.

For this year, the administration has received two snow clearance machines from the Mechanical Engineering Department (MED) to help speed up snow clearance operations in both Gurez and Bandipora.

Ahmad said that the biggest loader would remain stationed in Gurez for snow clearance during heavy snowfall.

He said that the focus would be to open roads early in the mornings to make them passable for traffic during snowfall in Gurez as well as Bandipora divisions.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which is responsible for maintaining the Bandipora-Gurez Road, for some years, has been resuming clearance operations as and when the weather permits to open the road sooner.

However, with snow bouts, the operations have resumed anew, especially on Razdan Top which sits at around 12,000 feet above sea level.

Regarding the health facilities in Gurez, especially the availability of a gynaecologist, Ahmad said that they had been made available on a rotational basis.

He said that in winter proper accommodation had been made available for the specialists and the consultants who would be deputed to Gurez so that people do not face any issues during the winter.