1st snowfall in Kabul brings joy & hassle

KABUL): The winter’s first snowfall on Monday thrilled residents of this central capital, but caused commuters and pedestrians a lot of inconvenience.

The belated snowfall in Kabul began an hour after midnight and continued intermittently as of midday, raising hopes of abundant water availability next spring.

Capital roads saw a string of accidents, as pedestrians fell because of slippery conditions. As a result, many workers reached offices several hours behind schedule.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Siddique Siddiqui wrote on Facebook he left home at 7.30am but reached office at 9.30am.

A number of capital residents waited for taxis, while others walked to work to avoid getting late. Daud, coming from Dasht-i-Barchi to Taimani area, complained of a fare hike.

Daud told Pajhwok Afghan News today he paid 30 afghanis in taxi fare, compared with 10 afs that passengers are routinely charged. Along the way, he saw many people falling on the road.

But a coach driver, who plies the Kota Sangi-Qambar Square road, insisted that he charged the routine fare of 10afs. Salim believed the snowfall represented good news for taxi drivers.

Jamal, a resident of the fifth police district, is an NGO employee. He reached his office three hours late, as his car went off on the road. “We pushed it right up to our office,” he added. 

Mohammad Ishaq Noori, the meteorology department head, told Pajhwok last week there would be less snow this year due to climate change.

During the past two months, temperatures have been high but dropped considerably in the last few days, Noori had said, predicting the snowfall would continue until Aril 2014.

Afghanistan is an agricultural country, with most of its population’s dependent on income from crops and livestock. Snowfall during the winter is a vital source of irrigation water in the country.

Majid Qarar,a the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock spokesman, said if there were no snowing in next three weeks, rain-fed agricultural lands would be affected.

ra/mud

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