Kupwara’s snow-bound remote Jumagund village cut-off for over 1 week

Kupwara, Jan 30: Residents of Jumagund, a remote village close to Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district are facing immense hardship as the area remains disconnected from district headquarters for over a week now, owing to heavy snowfall in the area.

The prolonged isolation of people has severely impacted daily life, with essential services and supplies struggling to reach the inhabitants. The situation has turned increasingly dire, as the locals in urgent need of assistance and support to deal with the daily life challenges are suffering immensely.

The residents of the area told Greater Kashmir that from Putakhan Galli to Jumagund, the road was under snow forcing them to remain isolated and cutoff from rest of the world. “We are unable to move around due to snow accumulated on the road, connecting Putakhan Galli to Jumagund” they added.

“Following heavy snowfall in the area recently, Kupwara-Jumagund road was blocked for vehicular movement. Over a week has passed since then but our road is yet to be cleared off from snow,” said the agitated residents in a video message to Greater Kashmir.

The residents alleged that the concerned department looking after Kupwara-Jumagund road has miserably failed to clear the accumulated snow. “Only a single snow clearing machine has been deputed here which works for merely few hours a day, which has turned the situation grim and people are forced to remain confined,” said Farooq Ahmad Raina, a local.

People of the area said that blockade of road has led to severe challenges including shortage of ration and other essential commodities. Even people are forced to shoulder patients on makeshift cots to reach Putakhan Galli by travelling over 12 kilometers and then board a vehicle there and accomplish remaining travel to Kupwara. The residents said that they were facing serious problems in accessing healthcare as not a single health employee is present in the area.

The locals have appealed administration to expedite the snow clearance operation so that traffic can be restored on Kupwara-Jumagund road with the result they will have a sigh of relief.

Executive Engineer PMGSY Kupwara, Firdous Ahmad told Greater Kashmir that snow clearance operation was in full swing. He said that due to snow avalanche warning they had to suspend the operation several times but now since the avalanche warning has been lifted, men and machinery was on job and hopefully within few days the accumulated snow will be cleared.

“If snowfall occurs in the area as per the forecast then the operation will witness a halt,” he added.

Meanwhile MLA Trehgam, Mir Saifullah said that he has been in constant touch with the concerned authorities to clear the road and hopefully within days the road will be cleared, provided there is no further snowfall in the area.

Reacting to the concerns of non-availability of health employees in the area, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Kupwara, Dr Zafar Akbar said that according to roster, an employee was supposed to report the duty at Jumagund on January 24 but due to heavy snowfall in the area, the traffic movement on Jumagund road was suspended with the result the employee couldn’t join his duty. “The employee will join duty once the traffic movement is restored on Jumagund road,” he further said. To a question about pregnancy care, he said that a pregnant woman from the area has already been evacuated to Kupwara before the heavy snowfall was recorded in the area.