Close to two weeks have passed since the power and horticulture sectors suffered twin jolts in Kashmir after a spell of untimely and massive snowfall but there seems to be no immediate respite in sight. The families dependent on fruit orchards for meeting financial necessities throughout the year watch in melancholy the brutalization that the orchards have been subjected by the fury of nature. According to reports, between 20 to 30 percent of fruit trees, mostly in central and south Kashmir, have been severely damaged due to the untimely snowfall last week which was recorded at four feet in some places of Shopian. Being laden with leaves and even fruits in some cases, the trees could not withstand the enormity of the disaster that was inflicted on them. The government has now ordered a joint survey by revenue and horticulture departments to assess the scale of damage caused to the trees and a compensation policy may be announced at a later stage. However, it isn’t going to help the farmers much, one because the compensation amount is abysmally low and, two, the policy doesn’t count a tree that has been split into two as a ‘damaged tree’. The magnitude of the snowfall also plunged the entire valley into darkness. Even Srinagar, the summer capital and the seat of governance in Kashmir, was pushed into a black hole for nearly two days as the officials at the helm of affairs reviewed the situation from the comforts of their warm offices in Jammu. It has been five days now since Kashmir was snowed in. The administration is still grappling to apply a quick band aid for hiding away the sorry state of power infrastructure in the Valley. While it is convenient for the power development department (PDD) to blame the uprooting of trees alongside the power lines for the crippled state of power network in Kashmir, it needs to be asked how is it possible that the major power transmission highways suffer disruption, despite the awareness of the geographical challenges of working in Kashmir. If a transmission tower fails, it is the government that has been failed and the responsibility should be fixed. Similarly, a haphazard exercise was recently carried out by the power development department involving branch cutting along the power lines. Did it save the day for the PDD or are these exercises in vanity?