Faizan Wani
Srinagar, Mar 09 : An official report has revealed that Jammu & Kashmir is facing severe dearth of machines and manpower for snow clearance during winters.
The report, a copy of which is in possession of news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that Jammu & Kashmir is short of 705 snow clearance machines, as against the requirement of 959 machines for snow clearance in J&K, only 254 are available with it.
“The requirement of machines for entire road length is 959 out of which only 254 are available with MED Kashmir/ Jammu at present, which caters for clearance of 9705 kilometers of road length out of 21798 kilometers,” the report states.’
The department of Mechanical Engineering Department is also facing shortage of manpower (skilled for snow clearance) as it short of 705 personnel against the requirement.
According to the report, against the requirement of 1803 personnel (skilled operators), the department has only 393 such personnel available.
The report was submitted by a high-level committee constituted in 2021 by Jammu & Kashmir Government to come up with standard operating procedure for optimal maintenance of roads during snow clearance.
It is worthwhile to mention that MED caters for snow clearance of 9705 kilometers of road length in J&K while snow clearance on remaining road length of 12093 kilometers is presently being done through contracting agencies by the Roads & Buildings department and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in both Kashmir and Jammu provinces.
An official told KNO that they are planning to purchase 66 snow clearance machines under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), during 2021-22.
“The procurement has been approved by the state executive committee in its meeting held on February 4 this year,” he said—(KNO)
