The prolonged highway closure has led to price hikes, spoiled essentials, and losses for local traders. Even with train services, people remain vulnerable to shortages.
The Jammu-Srinagar Highway when shut by the landslides triggered by heavy rains cuts all supply lines to Kashmir besides causing huge losses to prized apple Industry the soul of Kashmir economy. The recent, unprecedented, and prolonged closure of the highway has once again exposed vulnerabilities of people to price rise, rotten essentials and economic losses. Even the operation of train services has not reduced the vulnerability of people to shortage of essentials. This time highway’s closure has created a perfect storm of scarcity and desperation. Hundreds of trucks laden with fresh apples are stranded and rotting apples are consequently sparking anxieties among apple growers across Kashmir. For the apple growers of Kashmir, this isn’t just a loss of several hundred of apple trucks—it’s a blow to their livelihoods. Simultaneously, the limited supply of food, vegetables, poultry, and meat that manages to trickle in is being met with a voracious demand, exacerbated by the ongoing wedding season. This dual pressure of supply constriction and demand surge has sent prices soaring, with vendors and wholesalers reportedly fixing rates at will. The crisis is worsened by a governmental policy that has, perhaps unintentionally, disarmed the very bodies meant to protect consumers. The 2023 decision to deregulate prices of essential commodities has removed the official levers of price control. With no law to authorize Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumers Affairs (FSC&CA) Department to enforce price and quality controls, the department is showing its inability to address grievances of profiteering and cartelization rising day after day. This policy, intended to foster a free market, has become a “curse” for the common consumer, particularly the daily wage earners and middle-income households who are bearing the brunt of the inflated costs. The most troubling aspect of this recurring crisis is the lack of a sustainable and long-term solution. The Government’s assurances of ongoing restoration work ring hollow when no immediate timeline for a full reopening is provided. But even when the highway is clear, the problems persist. The text notes that “grievances of profiteering and cartelization remain unattended even when the road is open.” This suggests that the issue is not just a temporary fallout of a highway closure, but a systemic failure in market regulation and consumer protection. While the people of Kashmir cry out for an alternative supply chain and the reintroduction of regulatory mechanisms, their vulnerability to price gouging remains as intense as it was decades ago.
“Growing public demand for alternative supply chains could reduce vulnerability to shortages and economic losses. However, authorities often ignore these pleas, leaving Kashmir’s people exposed to exploitation, particularly during winter. A robust, responsive system is needed to protect consumers and restore market fairness.”
The delay in approving a proposal to revive market checking practices speaks to a broader bureaucratic inertia that puts consumer welfare on the back burner. It is a damning indictment of a system that fails to anticipate and mitigate the predictable consequences of its own logistical frailties. The current crisis demands immediate and decisive action. First and foremost, the government must prioritize the swift and permanent restoration of the highway, exploring alternative routes and technologies to prevent such prolonged blockages in the future. More critically, it must revisit the deregulation policy and empower its enforcement agencies. The FSC&CA Department needs a legal framework that gives it teeth to combat profiteering and ensure fair pricing and quality standards. This isn’t just about controlling the prices and quality of essential commodities in local markets but it is also about protecting the most vulnerable segments of the population. The rising public demand for investing in an alternative supply chain can change the vulnerabilities of people to supply shortages and economic losses. While people cry for restoring a sense of order and fairness to the market the law enforce don’t pay heed to the public outcry on this count. The people of Kashmir deserve a robust and responsive system that protects them from exploitation, not one that leaves them to fend for themselves every time and more during the periods of winter . The current situation is a wake-up call and if ignored won’t once bring any respite to common consumers in Kashmir as usual.
