mushtaq bala
Every year, winter arrives in Kashmir with familiar beauty and familiar anxieties. The snow-covered mountains, frozen landscapes and warmth of traditional kangri fires form an inseparable part of Kashmiri life. Yet, behind this seasonal charm lies a difficult reality for thousands of families who must prepare for prolonged cold, uncertain electricity supplies, rising household expenses and the possibility of disrupted road connectivity.
Winter in Kashmir is not merely a change of season. It is an annual examination of governance, administrative preparedness and society’s collective responsibility towards its most vulnerable people.
As the government reviews arrangements for the coming months, the central question is straightforward: will the preparations announced in offices translate into relief experienced by ordinary people?
The answer will depend not on the number of review meetings conducted, but on the effectiveness of measures implemented on the ground.
Electricity: A Necessity, Not a Luxury
For households across Kashmir, electricity becomes particularly important during the winter months. It is required not only for lighting homes but also for heating, cooking, studying and operating essential household appliances.
Power curtailments, when prolonged or poorly communicated, create difficulties for families, students, small businesses and patients who depend on electrical equipment.
The administration must ensure that notified schedules are followed as consistently as possible. Where technical faults or unavoidable interruptions occur, timely information should be provided so that consumers are not left guessing about the restoration of supply.
Equally important is the need to prevent avoidable breakdowns through advance maintenance and effective monitoring.
Electricity distribution companies must recognise that winter power supply is not simply a technical responsibility. It is directly connected to public comfort, health and economic activity.
Roads Must Remain Lifelines
Snowfall can transform Kashmir’s landscape within hours. But the same snowfall that attracts visitors and inspires poets can isolate remote villages, disrupt transport and delay emergency assistance.
Snow clearance, therefore, must be planned well before the first major snowfall. Roads connecting hospitals, district headquarters, markets and remote habitations should receive priority.
Coordination among the Roads and Buildings Department, Mechanical Engineering Department, municipal authorities and other road-maintaining agencies is essential. Confusion over departmental responsibility must never become an excuse for leaving a road uncleared.
Remote and snowbound areas deserve particular attention. In places where heavy snowfall regularly interrupts connectivity, machinery, fuel and trained personnel must be positioned in advance.
A road restored after several days of isolation may be a delayed achievement. A road kept functional through timely intervention is evidence of effective administration.
Healthcare Cannot Wait for the Weather to Improve
Perhaps the most serious winter challenge concerns healthcare.
For an elderly person experiencing a medical emergency, a pregnant woman requiring urgent assistance or a patient in need of regular treatment, a blocked road can become a life-threatening obstacle.
Hospitals and primary healthcare centres in vulnerable areas must have adequate medicines, essential supplies, heating arrangements and emergency response mechanisms.
Ambulances capable of operating in difficult conditions, reliable communication systems and clearly identified referral arrangements are equally important.
Authorities must also identify vulnerable households before severe weather sets in. Families living in remote villages, persons with disabilities, elderly people living alone and patients requiring regular medical attention should not have to wait until an emergency occurs to receive assistance.
Preparedness is meaningful only when it anticipates human need rather than merely responding to a crisis.
The Burden on Ordinary Families
Winter also brings additional financial pressure. Heating, food, clothing, transport and other essential expenses place a considerable burden on households, particularly those with limited incomes.
For daily-wage workers, the interruption of outdoor employment can mean reduced earnings precisely when household expenditure increases.
Small shopkeepers, artisans, transport operators and other workers whose livelihoods depend on regular economic activity may also face difficulties during prolonged periods of severe weather.
Government departments should ensure that essential commodities, including ration, LPG and medicines, remain available in remote and snowbound areas. Effective monitoring is necessary to discourage artificial shortages, unreasonable pricing and the exploitation of consumers during periods of restricted movement.
Welfare arrangements must reach eligible beneficiaries without unnecessary procedural delays.
A winter preparedness plan should not be judged solely by whether supplies have been stocked. It must also be judged by whether those supplies reach the people who need them, when they need them.
Accountability Must Continue Beyond Review Meetings
There is no shortage of winter preparedness meetings in Kashmir. The challenge has always been to ensure that decisions taken during these meetings are implemented consistently at the field level.
Departments must have clearly defined responsibilities, functioning control rooms and accessible channels through which people can report emergencies or service disruptions.
District administrations should regularly assess vulnerable locations and make their emergency arrangements known to the public. Officials responsible for essential services must remain accountable for avoidable delays and administrative failures.
Citizens, too, have a role to play. Responsible use of electricity, safe operation of heating appliances, care for elderly neighbours and timely reporting of emergencies can help reduce winter-related risks.
However, public cooperation cannot substitute for administrative responsibility. The government must lead, coordinate and respond effectively.
A Test of Governance and Compassion
Kashmir has endured difficult winters before. Its people possess remarkable resilience, strengthened by community ties, traditional practices and a longstanding culture of helping neighbours in times of hardship.
But resilience should never become an excuse for institutional complacency.
People should not have to demonstrate extraordinary endurance to obtain basic services that the administration is expected to provide. Nor should the suffering of residents in remote areas become an accepted feature of winter life.
The real success of winter preparedness will be measured in homes that remain adequately supplied, roads that stay accessible, patients who receive timely treatment, students who can continue their education and families who are not left struggling without assistance.
As winter approaches, the administration has an opportunity to demonstrate that preparedness means more than issuing instructions and reviewing departmental reports. It means anticipating difficulties, assigning responsibility and ensuring that every department performs when people need it most.
Winter will test Kashmir’s infrastructure, but it will also test the sincerity of its institutions. The season may be unavoidable; preventable hardship is not.
For the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the expectation is simple: let this winter be remembered not for administrative promises, but for the relief, reliability and reassurance those promises deliver.commitments made, but on the number fulfilled.
Mushtaq Bala is Editor-in-Chief of Kashmir Pen, an award-winning filmmaker, cultural commentator, and advocate for peace through narrative media.
