As temperatures drop to minus 8 in Kashmir, CM Omar Abdullah rushes back

Srinagar, Dec 22 (IANS) As unprecedented cold gripped Kashmir Valley causing huge inconveniences to people, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday cancelled all his engagements outside and decided to remain stationed in the Valley.

Taking to X, he wrote, “In light of the severe cold spell in the Kashmir valley & the resultant difficulties with water & electricity supply, I have decided to cancel my forthcoming programmes in Jammu & station myself in Srinagar for the next week to personally monitor the functioning of the Power department & other important departments.”

CM Omar Abdullah has said that he will personally monitor the functioning of the power and other important departments.

He also said that cancelling his programmes in Jammu will cause some inconvenience to organisers and he regretted the same.

“I do appreciate that cancelling my programmes in Jammu will cause some inconvenience to the organisers & I regret the same. However under the circumstances this is the right thing to do & I will make it up to the people/organisations whose programmes have been affected,” he added on X.

He further said that he is on his way back from Jaisalmer and will be back in Srinagar Wednesday morning.

As the 40-day long period of extreme winter cold, locally called the ‘Chillai Kalan’ started On Saturday, the minimum temperature dropped to minus 8.5 degrees Celsius in Srinagar city after 24 hours.

Most water pipes and water pump sets either have burst or remained frozen rock solid. People in Srinagar city and other towns of the Valley found managing water a Herculean task.

The miseries of the locals are compounded by the shortages of electric power supply. According to the engineers of the power development department, there is a deficit of 600 megawatts at peak hours between demand and supply.

This is only managed by unscheduled power curtailment even in metered areas where 24X7 electric supply is otherwise assured by the government.

The Meteorological (MeT) department has forecast cold, dry weather till the evening of December 28 and also said that there could be an improvement in the night temperature due to cloud cover.

–IANS

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