A Grid that Fails on Schedule

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20 Apr 2026

Year after year, Kashmir's power department collects allocations, issues assurances, and delivers darkness. That is not mismanagement. It is a pattern

Kashmir does not have a power shortage. It has an accountability shortage. The Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation has received successive tranches of central funding under schemes designed to modernise the grid, reduce transmission losses, and end the cycle of load shedding that has defined life in the Valley for decades. The money has arrived. The darkness has not lifted. Residents in Srinagar endure cuts lasting eight to twelve hours daily in winter, the precise season when reliable electricity is not a convenience but a medical necessity. Hospitals run on generators. Students study under failing light. Small businesses calculate their losses in hours without power, not rupees alone. The department's standard explanation, ageing infrastructure, peak demand, transmission losses, has been offered so consistently and for so long that it has ceased to function as an explanation and become an admission. If the causes are known, and the funds have been provided, and the problem persists, the failure is administrative, not technical. The government must move beyond project announcements and demand performance accountability from JKPDCL's leadership. Unspent allocations must be tracked. Timelines for grid upgrades must be published and enforced. Officials responsible for persistent non-delivery must be named and answerable. Kashmir's darkness is not a natural condition. It is a managed one. And that distinction carries consequences.