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In summer, when ice melts, the water can be used for irrigation.

Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur, where the temperature drops several notches below the freezing point, is witnessing a dry spell with no rain and snow, similar to Gulmarg in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir. The locals have created an artificial glacier to beat the water scarcity in Kinnaur amid this dry spell.

Twenty young individuals in Kinnaur’s Hango village, located very close to the Indo-Tibet border, identified an open land surrounded by mountains from all sides and diverted the flow of natural water to build a reservoir or a glacier in this cold weather using YouTube.

The tribals in the village set up pipes and channelled the water from a natural source high up in the mountains to the open land. The freezing temperature in Kinnaur will turn water into ice and will create an artificial glacier. In summer, when ice melts, the water can be used for irrigation purposes and help solve the problem of scarcity.

“Our youth have done a commendable job by creating an artificial glacier. The districts at high altitudes in Himachal Pradesh have turned into a desert and there’s no snow. In future, the farmers will have a scarcity of water for irrigation,” Shanta Kumar Negi, a member of Kinnaur District Council said.

“The farmers and other people in the village are happy with the formation of this glacier and I hope it inspires people from other villages to do something similar to deal with such problems created by climate change,” he added.

Himachal Pradesh received 83 per cent deficit rains in December, whereas the deficit was 100 per cent in January so far.

The Met Office’s forecast for the continuation of the dry spell and warm weather is keeping people on tenterhooks as besides loss to crops, dry deficit rains could cause water shortages in summer. With 100 per cent deficient rains in the first eight days, Himachal Pradesh witnessed the driest January in 20 years.

A similar weather pattern is being observed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gulmarg, where the popular ski resort Gulmarg is witnessing a dry spell with no snow, upsetting tourists and adventure enthusiasts.