Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government’s order to stock LPG cylinders and vacate school buildings for armed forces in the Ganderbal district—that connects Kargil with Kashmir—has created a ripple of anxiety across people in Kashmir.
The fresh orders for stocking LPG and vacating of school buildings for troops have come amid looming fears of war between India and China due to Chinese incursion into In Indian territory in Ladakh.
Due to “closure of the National Highway on account of landslides” the order to stock sufficient supplies of LPG in Kashmir has been called a “most urgent matter” .
The order issued by the Director of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers said the oil companies should maintain adequate stocks of LPG that can last up to two months at bottling plants and godowns.
Such build-up assumes significance as the coming Amarnath yatra is likely to be a low-key affair due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, Ganderbal is adjoining Kargil in the Union Territory of Ladakh, where India and China are engaged in a major face-off over the Line of Actual Control.
The anxiety among the people is palpable. “We hear the jets hovering in the skies on a daily basis for many weeks now. Similar orders were issued in February and August last year. There is a foreboding again in the Valley,” said Nazeer Ahmad, a resident of Hawal.
Ahead of the operation Balakot inside Pakistan in February and the revocation of J&K’s special status in August last year, the government issued a series of similar orders.
PNN/Agencies