By the end of this month, the winter is all set in Kashmir. November is not the harsh winter month but as the days pass on, the mercury dips down and in December we enter into the harsh part of winter locally known as Chillai Kalan. It starts on December 20 and culminates on January 30. But that is not the end of winter with February also having cold days and nights with anticipated snowfalls.
The winters due to snowfall and freezing temperature attract a huge number of tourists to Kashmir especially to the colder places like Gulmarg, Pahalgham, Sonamarg and other destinations. It sustains economic requirements of local people who have no other activity to do in these months.
But at the same time, locals suffer a lot and face hardships. There is a soaring demand for power supply but in return, outages are common phenomena. In fact, locals are used to it now. Countless times in the last so many years successive regimes have promised to improve the power supply in Kashmir as per requirement but no one fulfilled so far.
Winters in Kashmir are known for power outages, affecting the day to day living of locals. There is a growing demand that power infrastructure in Kashmir must be build up to the requirements of people. It will not only have a positive impact on the economy but normal activities won’t get affected. It will also help in tapping the hidden potential of tourism and bring more footfalls to the valley.
The efforts put forth by successive regimes may not yield the results as long as power infrastructure is not placed properly. Even the small industrial units working across the valley in an unorganized manner suffer a lot due to non-availability of uninterrupted power supply. This is a serious concern and the regime of the day must fathom and take corrective measures.
