Bandipora Breathes Easy as Calm prevails amidst crackdown on drugs

Bandipora, Jan 3: North Kashmir’s Bandipora district witnessed a relative calm in terms of security in 2023 as no major incident or encounter took place. However, Police cracked down on drug smugglers and arrested scores of men and women who had eluded the security agencies’ radar for years.

According to official details available with Greater Kashmir, Police in Bandipora arrested 101 people in 81 cases, of which 71 have been chargesheeted and 10 are under investigation.

The police also seized a huge haul of contraband substances from the drug smugglers in 2023, which included 49.3 kg charas powder, 28.12 kg bhang leaves, 3.15 kg charas, 156 bottles of codeine, 15.64 kg hung powder, 1096 tablets of Sosmoproxiyon, 312 tablets of Sampex , 49 gm heroin, 46.25 kg poppy straw, 16 gm brown sugar, 48 tablets of Proxywel spas, 60 tablets of alprazolam, and 10 bottles of Corex.

The Police also recovered two mobile phones and Rs 81,925 in cash from the smugglers.

To further curb the drug menace, till December 22, 2023, Police also arrested 13 people under the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act.

The most noticeable event in the Police crackdown on drug smuggling was the seizure of property and action against female smugglers.

The district also mourned the killing of an Army Sepoy, WaseemSarwar Dar in August, from Dachigam village in an encounter in Kulgam.

Dar left behind his pregnant wife, sending the villagers into grief.

In one of the tragic incidents, a brother-sister duo died in the Shahtulpora village of Sumbal in June. Nuzhat, 18, who had days before qualified for the 10th standard exams, jumped into the River Jhelum after trying to rescue her elder brother Nazakat Ali, 21.

Even as Ali was pulled out, he breathed his last in a Srinagar hospital. Nuzhat was retrieved lifeless from the river after remaining missing for hours.

In Nesbal village of Sumbal, in a tragic incident, a seven-year-old boy, Zaid Bashir, was mauled to death by a leopard after attacking him on the street in August.

His body was found a day later in the nearby forests.

In a significant development, the north Kashmir district's breathtakingly beautiful Gurez Valley was connected to the grid in November by Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL), giving parts of the valley regular electricity for the first time.

Officials said it was a historic milestone as the valley was connected to the grid via a 69-km transmission line that passes over Razdan Pass at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet.

Wular Lake also showed promising signs of recovery following WUCMA's dredging works, which cleared a 4.8 sq km critically silted area of Wular Lake during the past two years.

In February 2023, long-tailed ducks (Clangulahyemalis) were spotted for the first time.

It was last seen in Kashmir in 1939.

“They were not the only rare visitors. The common pochard, red-crested pochard, smew, falcated duck, and other uncommon birds have also graced the lake with their presence,” Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) coordinator IrfanRasoolWani told Greater Kashmir. “The return of rare migratory birds is a clear indication of the positive impact of our conservation efforts. It shows that Wular is becoming a healthy habitat again, attracting diverse birdlife.”

The official claimed that dredging works had also increased lake depth and improved holding capacity, mitigating flood risk.

“The improved water quality has led to a resurgence of aquatic vegetation, providing crucial food and habitat for fish and avifauna,” Wani said.

In December, more rare migratory birds were spotted in the lake.

However, locals and experts think that more work needs to be done to restore the lost glory of the lake.

The district administration also hosted a group of yatris for the annual one-day yatra to the cave shrine located in the Samthan forests of Arin.

The ritual, symbolic to locals, remained suspended for almost a decade.

Reviving the religious ritual, a group of 90 yatris embarked on the cave shrine in August.

At the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting, which took place at the SKICC in May, a stall showcased three products from Bandipora.

These were: Black Cumin (KaalaZeera) grown in the Gurez Valley, organic Rajma from Tulail Valley, and papier-mâché crafts from Sumbal.

In one of the recent events, an endangered musk deer was also rescued from the ecologically fragile belt in Bandipora.

The old and elusive female musk deer had once again shifted focus on conserving the Kishanganga belt, which spreads from Bandipora areas to Gurez in the shape of a wildlife sanctuary.

To curb poaching, the Forest Protection Force official said that with the efforts of the last two and a half years, the activity of poaching had been almost totally stopped.

They said that besides 11 punt guns, which included one of the largest at 9.3 feet seized this year, they initiated legal action against many poachers which had renewed the influx of migratory birds to the Wular Lake.

Even as a foundation stone for the multi-level car parking at GulshanChowkBandipora to be constructed for Rs 5 crore was laid, several small and big developmental projects that people have been demanding did not get any administrative attention.

It includes a long pending demand for the tunnel for Gurez Valley, a bypass for the main town of Bandipora, highway status, and widening of the Srinagar-Bandipora road, especially from Bandipora to Sumbal.

Moreover, the construction of the bridges which includes the Sumbal footbridge, among other ongoing projects did not see any progress.

Besides, the demands for separate maternity and trauma hospitals remained pending.

Wular Lake dumping site and garbage disposal along Jhelum and streams continued to affect lake health.

People with interests in literature, art, and culture were elated when an auditorium hall was inaugurated and thrown open to the public at Kaloosa this month.