Feb 28, 2020
Supplying daily provisions of fresh vegetables and fruits only to ration card holders, residents of Zanskar complained that authorities have not made any arrangement for the provision’s availability in snowy region
The scene in Kargil in mid-morning hours is such that a little of local residents both men and women show up at a marketplace. They are desperately trying to queue up in two separate queues in front of a vegetable provision store. As soon as the store opens, the queue has turned a mile long trail.
Heavy snowfall in the regions bars ferrying fresh fruits and vegetables to the areas during the winters. It often becomes rather difficult as the region remains out of reach with road blockages, adding to the misery of availability of fruits and vegetables as per ration cards, This year, the rationing of food has been made even stricter after the government ordered that vegetables and fruits would only be sold to holders of the ration card.
“Earlier, one could buy the limited supply of vegetables and fruits more or less on daily basis. Now you have to wait for at least two weeks once you have bought a bag full of vegetables weighing 5 kg”, said Mohammad Hussain, a local resident.
Ladakh became a Union Territory after the Modi-led BJP government scrapped the constitutional autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir and broke it up into two federally controlled territories in a sudden move.
While some residents in Buddhist-dominated Leh hailed the decision, the move was severely criticised by people in Kargil district.
“We have not been benefited in any way. Even now we have to wait for hours in serpentine queues to buy the vegetables”, says Mohammad Ismail, another local resident.
The government, as the residents put forward, had made tall claims about making a plentiful supply of essentials available during the winter, but to no avail.
The Dept of Co-operatives has made the stock available at three places — Main Market, Daroo and Damathang playfield. All the above three places are located within a radius of 2km. The people living in far off places like Drass and Sankoo have to travel a distance for hours amidst the freezing cold weather to Kargil to buy the daily supplies.
“It takes a full day to fetch the vegetables from Kargil town. Last time I set out from my home nearly at the crack of dawn and at around 2 pm I was able to buy 5 kg of vegetables”, said a resident from Drass, some 65 kms from Kargil.
He added that the government could have easily shipped the fresh vegetables and fruits at few far off places as well.
The residents of Zanskar, some 240 kms from Kargil town, complained that authorities were not make any efforts to arrange shipment of vegetables or fruits in the area.
With a population of 13,849, Zanskar remains cut off from the rest of Ladakh for close to six months due to heavy and frequent snowfall and thus residents here stock up essential food commodities by the end of October. However, it is not possible to store the seasonal vegetables and fruits from October to be consumed in later months.
“We largely bank on pulses and rice during the winters. The vegetables and fruits are rarely consumed during six month long winters,” said Skalzang Wangyal, former councilor of Ladakh Administrative Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil.
Local residents are of the view that during the winters, the government could have made arrangements to fly the essentials including fruits and vegetables by special helicopters.
“The government could ferry the supply by air to the inaccessible areas like Zanskar. Many a times, in the past, it has sent the supply of vegetables and fruits during the winter here. But now the area is being ignored,” said a resident of Zanskar over phone.
He added that the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories had no way helped the local populace to alleviate their miseries and troubles.
The difficulty of the floating population in Kargil is unparalleled. A surplus of non-local workers and tourists currently putting up in the area are unable to taste fresh fruits or vegetables for want of a ration card.
“We are not able to buy any vegetables let alone the fruits. The government must exempt us from procuring the vegetables on ration cards,” said a band of non-local drivers.