Himachal Pradesh continued to shiver as cold wave froze life in the hill State. Five of its major cities recorded sub-zero temperatures, with Shimla at minus 3.2 and Manali at minus 6.6 witnessing the coldest night of this winter.
Erratic power and water supply added to the winter woes of the residents and tourists, as freezing weather conditions remained unabated. Direct intervention by the Chief Minister and purported “best efforts” by the authorities also failed to thaw the impasse as the State capital Shimla is still struggling hard to overcome the weather vagaries.
Though sunny Wednesday brought some respite for the residents in State capital yet the Shimla administration failed to restore the power and water supply even on the fifth day after the heavy snowfall.
Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP organised a protest outside the Deputy Commissioners office. Accusing Government for administrative failure, Ganesh Dutt, Vice President of Himachal BJP said that the lack of work force had become a major cause of worry for the people and the failure of administration to restore normalcy in the State capital had made it clear that the incumbent Government had no guts to deal with exigencies.
Dutt alleged that the Government could not restore water supply to the Governor house even after six days.
Chief Secretary VC Pharka on Wednesday reviewed the progress on restoration of roads, water and electricity, in different parts of the State affected by heavy snowfall, with senior officers of these departments. Pharka claimed that 410 out of the 607 snow and rain affected roads had been opened for vehicular traffic. Four Helipads, in Chamba and all in lahual-Spiti, have been made functional.
Meteorology department has again predicted heavy snowfall in Shimla and other places from January 14 onwards. Met Director Manmohan Singh said that the next two to three days would be dry but the western disturbance would cause snow and thunderstorms in the state thereafter.