Srinagar, November 27
Even as the king of winter, “Chillai Kalan” is yet to knock the doors of Kashmir, the valley is reeling under severe cold conditions with temperatures reaching freezing point. Its intensity has been further aggravated due to dry weather conditions during the past couple of months, creating hardships for the common man.

Owing to clear skies during the nights, dry weather conditions have led to a further fall in the night temperature. It was recorded at minus 4.2 degrees Celsius last night, lowest temperature recorded during night throughout November this year. Such dry weather and severe cold conditions have been experienced in the past as well, and there is nothing unusual about it, officials at the Met Department said here today. There may be scattered rainfall in the planes and snowfall in the upper reaches in the region on November 29, according to weather forecast. The entire region, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal and the northern parts of the country, has been experiencing similar dry weather conditions throughout November, the Met officials added.

They said usually there was scanty rain in the region during November every year, but the temperatures have gone down due to clear night skies over the past many weeks. The fog, engulfing most parts of the valley during the days, has led to disruption in the operation of more than a dozen flights to and from Srinagar airport.

Level in water bodies has gone down, leading to the shortage in power generation. Report from different parts of the valley reveal that there has been an acute shortage of power and the essential commodities like the LPG and kerosene.

The officials concerned, however, claimed that adequate stocks of essential commodities, especially the LPG, were available to last for over one month in the valley.

The 40-day-long “Chillai Kalan” begins from December 22 and is known for its severe winter conditions and heavy snowfall. It is followed by two other chills, 20-day-long “Chillai Khurd” and 10-day-long “Chillai Bacha”.

Jammu, November 27
The Jammu railway staion seems to be one of the worst kept in the country. Thousands of people visit the city every day. Practically no proper service is available to the passengers.

Right from the enquiry up to the boarding of a train, the passengers have to go through difficulties. Even while sitting at the station it is difficult to know the train times. And in case a train is late, it turns out to be a nightmare.

Jammu railway station receives rush of Vaishno Devi shrine pilgrims, 50 km from here. This year over 60 lakh pilgrims have visited the shrine, most of them by train.Quite a number of them have to undergo the ordeal of travelling by a train.

If a passenger wants to confirm arrival of a train or its departure on telephone, it is not possible. Nobody picks up the "131" or any other phone supposed to be of " railway ënquiry". The passengers have to visit the railway station to know status of the trains. Invariably the trains are late. But who can afford to take the risk.The Bhardwaj family of Lucknow was to board the Varanasi Express recently from Jammu at 2 pm. It tried its best from Katra to know whether the train was on time. But nobody picked up the phone and they had to come to the station to learn the train was five hours late.

Not a single person at the station The Tribune talked to said to have got response on phone from Railway Enquiry. "The phone keeps ringing and nobody bothers to pick it up", said Sunil Kumar of Ambala. Similarly at the current and reservation ticket counters, the passengers have to face many hardships. While average time in the queue is one and a half to two hours, sometimes it gets longer depending on the rush of the people. Surprisingly even during peak morning and evening hours, at the most two ticket counters are functional. During evening hours six trains depart with a few thousand passengers. Over half of them buy the tickets on the spot. Sometimes people even miss the train. A senior railway official at the railway station, who refused to be quoted, admitted the passengers had to face the difficulties. He claimed there was shortage of staff. "While the number of trains keeps increasing, there is no increase in the number of employees", he pointed out. Same was the case with the Railway Enquiry. He claimed that sometimes it happens the person was busy with on-the-spot inquiries and he or she is not able to pick the phone.

Not a single passenger The Tribune talked to at the station appeared to be satisified. Ranjna Talwar, the wife of an Army officer said, she had been waiting at the railway station for three hours and nobody had any idea about the train. She was to board the Varanasi Express.