Karnah-Tangdhar · Border & rural infrastructure

Winter Administration and COVID-19 Response, Karnah-Tangdhar

Running a Line-of-Control sub-division cut off by snow for months, during the first year of the pandemic.

Winter Administration and COVID-19 Response, Karnah-Tangdhar
Winter Administration and COVID-19 Response, Karnah-Tangdhar Photo: Kashmir Life

The Challenge

Karnah-Tangdhar is reached over the Sadhna Pass and is cut off for several months each winter. In 2020 the sub-division also faced the first COVID-19 lockdown, with students without internet access and patients unable to travel.

The Intervention

Early COVID-19 awareness meetings (March 2020); home delivery of offline school assignments (April 2020); a winter stocking review with three months of rations in place and LPG allocation raised from 2,400 to 20,000 cylinders (September 2020); one-way traffic orders and the reopening of the Sadhna Pass highway after three feet of snow (November to December 2020).

Implementation

Coordination with the Army for medical evacuations (seven patients airlifted to Srinagar in January 2021), distribution of 40 poly-greenhouses at Nachiyan and Shamspora under the Cluster Model Village Scheme, and review of a Rs 20 crore plan for 300 individual bunkers for border families.

Outcome

Supplies and connectivity maintained through the winter; medical evacuations completed; greenhouse and bunker programmes advanced. On 21 April 2020 the SDM's vehicle was buried by an avalanche at Sadhna Top on the return from a COVID review; he, his security officer and driver were rescued by the Army.

Evidence

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