Valley witnessing coldest October after 39 years
SHAKEELA ANDRABI
SRINAGAR: According to Meteorological Department, Kashmir is reeling under severe cold and after a gap of 39 years, people are experiencing coldest October. Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Met office predicted that western disturbance could cause heavy snowfall in hilly areas and rains in plains on October 23. Meteorological Department also issued an advisory to J&K administration as well as farmers to harvest remaining fruits as soon as possible as there could be heavy snowfall in these areas, leading to heavy damages.
Srinagar recorded incessant rainfall for 36 hours resulting into water logs on almost all main roads of City while snowfall in upper reaches destroyed fruit crop to a great extent. As it was an unexpected turn in weather, a sharp dip in temperature left people to shiver while routine activities witnessed a kind of disruption. But, the most devastating thing due to inclement weather was snowfall in some areas of Kashmir. This untimely snowfall in areas like Shopian, caused a huge economic loss to farmers especially apple-growers. It is a huge disaster for the orchardists, as it not only damaged the produce but also uprooted several trees. An official of the Horticulture Department said that as per initial assessment, damage is almost 60 percent in upper areas of Damhaal Haanjipora -Noorabad in Kulgam where it snowed quite heavily. These badly affected areas include Chimmer, D K Marg, Nandmarg, Aharbal, Gudar, Malvan, Nehama, Khulbatpora, Nillaw, Kaprin, Paddarpora in Kulgam District. As per locals, when weather advisory was issued for these areas, it was too late. At that time, it was not possible to get required labour and even if some labour was available, it was not possible to accomplish the job in a day or two. “This year we were optimistic for a good return on our crop as scenario during last two years was not so good, first after abrogation of Article 370 and then due to COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in 2020. We already suffered huge losses during last two years and now once again we are at a loss due to rains and snowfall,” Mohammad Yousuf told STATE TIMES.
Jammu & Kashmir administration has directed the Horticulture Department to assess the losses suffered by orchardists due to untimely snowfall in Kashmir division. Accordingly, DG Horticulture made an extensive tour to District Kulgam and visited various snow-hit orchards for taking stock of the situation.
Since it was the time of harvesting, the snowfall damaged orchards. The reports from these apple growing areas present a very grim picture. There are some serious questions and many concerns among farming community. As such, Experts in Horticulture and Meteorological Department should focus on upgrading its forecasting system, so that they can give accurate prediction well in advance.