Cold wave: Life freezes as temperatures plummet in G-B

Water froze in pipelines and channels in Gilgit as temperature dipped to as low as 11 degrees below zero.

GILGIT: Akram Khan isn’t the only person in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) to go to work without having washed early in the morning. Many others do this in winters as water gets frozen in pipelines due to the extreme cold.

“When I got up at 7 am, I found ice instead of water in the bucket; the water had jammed in the pipelines too,” said 40-year-old Khan who runs a general store in the city. “If I waited for the ice to melt it would be 11am and I will be late by three hours, which I can’t afford,” he observed. The father of three kids, Khan says that his wife breaks the ice into pieces to prepare tea for breakfast.

Water froze in pipelines and channels in Gilgit on Friday as temperature dipped to as low as 11 degrees below zero. The situation remained grim elsewhere in G-B as well; in Skardu the temperature remained at minus 16 degrees centigrade with a similar pattern in Hunza, Ghizer and Astore. The plummeting temperature isn’t the only factor troubling the region; load-shedding for up to 18 hours a day, the on-going crisis of petroleum products and firewood are other irritants that have made the life of common people ‘hell’ in this region since the start of November.

Salar Khan, who works in Gilgit said that a person living in another part of Pakistan cannot imagine how life is for the people of G-B during winters. “It’s really tough given the shortage of basic civic facilities,” he said, adding that usually the situation across this mountainous region turns ugly in December and January every year with cold at its peak, but this year it has surpassed all previous records.

Last week, petrol pump dealers across G-B went on a strike, demanding an increase in the volume of diesel for the region. A day after the strike ended, the tanker association observed one for an increase in fares. The strike continued till Friday, as the government failed to persuade them. Arshad Khan, a school teacher, said that his son missed a paper as he couldn’t find transport to drop him to school.

Price of firewood has also gone up because of a ban placed by the government on the transportation of wood in the region. Residents said that 40 kilogrammes of firewood cost Rs600 in G-B, which is beyond their purchasing power.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2010.