Lt Gen. R. S. Reen (Retd.)
As an orchardist from Baramulla, the pulse of the Kashmir valley’s economy can be felt every day with every box of apples prepared for shipment. Each season, the anxieties begin with the harvest, but nothing compares to the dread and helplessness brought on by the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway (NH44), the only all-weather road linking the Valley to the rest of India.
A Lifeline Severed
The NH44 is not just a ribbon of tarmac; it is the lifeline of millions. With its closure-this year, repeatedly, for weeks at a time due to landslides and floods-traders, orchardists and drivers watch helplessly as fruit-laden trucks pile up along treacherous bends, produce rots inside containers, and debts skyrocket. In my lifetime, I have rarely witnessed such economic strangulation as has occurred this season.
* Fruit-laden trucks stranded for days resulted in estimated economic losses between ?600 to ?700 crore in a single fortnight of closure during 2025’s peak apple harvest.
* With over 70% of Kashmir’s GDP tied to horticulture, and apples alone generating Rs 8,000 crore annually, losses of this magnitude threaten not only growers but also packers, traders, transporters, and daily-wage laborers.
Impact on the Economy: Numbers and Human Costs
Crippling the Backbone
Kashmir’s apple industry supports over 3.5 million people, directly and indirectly. When trucks are stalled at Udhampur or Ramban for want of a clear highway, orchardists fear not just missed market opportunities, but also loan defaults and family livelihoods lost for the year. The exponential rise in packaging costs-from ?40 per carton to nearly ?200 in 2025-amplifies these losses.
Time-Sensitive and Perishable
The market for apples and other produce is highly time-sensitive. Export-quality fruit declines in value by the day, and many boxes never reach the market, resulting in distress sales or rotten waste. Growers like myself must also contend with:
* Increased spoilage rates, as delays mean apples rot inside trucks.
* Missed market windows in Delhi, Mumbai, and beyond, where prices plunge if deliveries are late.
* Cascading effects: shriveling of related businesses in packaging, logistics, cold storage, and agri-labor.
Polycrisis: Road, Climate, and Geopolitics
Kashmir’s strategic position, difficult topography, and increasingly erratic climate, coupled with infrastructure neglect and bureaucratic inertia, magnify the crisis. NH44 is highly vulnerable to natural calamities-as was seen in August-September 2025’s landslides-and ongoing political tension worsens matters.
A Baramulla Family Orchardist’s Lament
As both a former Army officer and an orchardist, this paralysis feels akin to a blockade in a conflict-and the wounds are economic, social, and emotional. Neighbors become competitors for the few trucks that ply, and anxiety simmers at mandi and household alike. Families where successive generations have cultivated orchard lands are left questioning their children’s futures.
“Economic Disaster”: Regional Voices
Political leaders-across the spectrum-have termed the closure an “economic assault” on Kashmir, explicitly pointing to the deliberate or systemic neglect that allows such crises to recur each year. Protests in Srinagar and Shopian reflect not simply anger but desperation, as government promises of swift restoration ring hollow.
Beyond the Apples: Broader Economic Disruption
Fruit and horticulture are only part of the story. The Valley’s dependence on NH44 also disrupts:
* Import of fertilizers, seeds, agri-chemicals, machinery, construction goods, and pharmaceuticals.
* Outbound flow of handicrafts, dry fruits, and saffron-core components of the region’s export economy.
* Logistic costs for all businesses, leading to cost inflation and job losses.
Many industries report halved production and layoffs during highway closures, and the education, health, and tourism sectors also suffer from supply-chain shocks.
Why Railway Cargo Is the Answer
Data and New Developments
Recent months have seen the inauguration of a dedicated rapid cargo train from Budgam to Delhi-connecting Kashmir by rail directly to India’s markets for the first time. This is the critical breakthrough the Valley has awaited:
* The pilot cargo train completes the Budgam-Delhi journey in just 23 hours, comfortably outpacing disrupted road routes.
* The train carries apples, walnuts, saffron, handicrafts, and carpets from the Valley straight to urban and export markets.
* New registration schemes and greatly reduced transportation costs promise to include even small traders and cooperatives.
* Start to and fro a regular goods train from Srinagar to Delhi
Environmental Advantages
Rail transport is vastly more energy-efficient than trucks. By shifting cargo from volatile, polluting diesel trucks to electric or hybrid trains:
* Carbon emissions can be reduced significantly, advancing India’s national climate targets.
* Lowered highway congestion means reduced wear-and-tear on NH44 and less frequent, damaging repairs.
* Railways can run in adverse weather conditions and are less vulnerable to landslides, offering reliability the mountains desperately need.
* It is also a big pathway to the defence transportation
Sustainable Economic Transformation
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry strongly endorses rapid cargo rail expansion, citing improved supply-chain reliability, decreased costs, and sustained business competitiveness.
* For orchardists, farmers, artisans, and exporters, the railway is a guarantee against devastation from landslides, floods, or bureaucratic mismanagement on NH44.
* State-of-the-art logistics-even cold chain support-can be reliably developed around railway infrastructure, enabling premium produce to reach distant markets without spoilage.
* Making a logic hub in Baramulla
Recommendation
The lessons of logistics in national security are clear: redundancy is vital, chokepoints are vulnerabilities, and a resilient supply system is non-negotiable for stability. The NH44 crisis is a warning that without a robust railway cargo backbone, Kashmir’s economic future will always hang by a thread.
For the sake of the Valley’s orchardists, youth, industry, and environment, Kashmir must rapidly scale up:
* All-weather rail freight and passenger service between Baramulla-Srinagar and India’s metros.
* Investment in cold-chain facilities and agri-logistics hubs at railway stations.
* Policy reforms and incentives to promote modal shift from road to rail, especially for bulk and perishable commodities.
* Expedited clearance and compensation processes for all rail-aligned infrastructure.
Reflections
This year’s highway closures are not a one-off crisis but a recurring nightmare that has laid bare how perilous Kashmir’s single-lane lifeline has become. The cargo railway offers a future-proof means to both prosperity and peace of mind, not only shielding the Valley’s economy from unpredictable road closures but also enabling cleaner, faster, and more inclusive growth.
Policymakers, industry, and the people of Kashmir must unite in seizing this opportunity-so that never again does an orchardist watch a season’s work wither away behind a landslide, and never again must a valley be held hostage by a single road.
(The author has recently retired as DGQA (Director General Quality Assurance) Ministry of Defence)
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