SrinagarTo reach Srinagar in time some one dozen elderly and infirm pilgrims including women, walked over snow and frozen ice for over eleven hours from Kamah township to TP in border district of Kupwara.
The orders to foot the icy distance were issued by the tehsildar of the area, Ghulam Qadir Mir, after his attempts to arrange a heli¬copter for the dozen odd pilgrims failed. It is discriminatory and reflects the failure of the government, said one of the prospective Hajis from the area.
The Hajis left Karnah on February 18, and covered the distance upto TP in eleven hours. They were accompanied by over a hundred relatives and friends. They told the Observer News Service in Srinagar today that at many points they had to cut the thick layers of ice to make way. It was frustrating, they said.
Now lodged in Manoranjan Hotel in Srinagar they claimed, It was a very tough task to reach Srinagar under the circumstances. At some points, they claimed, snow was 12 to 15 feet deep and it was with great efforts that we managed to reach Kupwara, where from we straight away drove to Srinagar.
They however, said that Deputy Commissioner Kupwara, Yaseen Shah had sent two matadors to TP, from where they were transport¬ed to Kupwara town. They stayed at Dak bungalow for further three days, before leaving for Srinagar.
The prospective Hajis from Kupwara have received all necessary documents from Additional Deputy
Commissioner, Kupwara and will be flying to Jeddah soon. They were all smiles for making it to Srinagar. Getting to Srinagar is more difficult than reaching Makkah, they said. One of the el¬derly citizens said that they are reliving what their ancestors went through in a bygone era.
They were severely critical of the state government and the organisers for not providing transport faculty for the snowbound areas of Karnah and Keran. They should have air-lifted us to Kup¬wara, they said.
(KASHMIR OBSERVER, 25 February, 1999)
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