When mobility collapses in Jammu and Kashmir, it is not traffic alone that suffers; it is public life, economic stability and the people’s faith in governance
Jammu and Kashmir’s mobility crisis can no longer be softened with bureaucratic language or buried under routine official assurances. What is unfolding across the Union Territory is not merely a transport problem. It is a failure of planning, a warning on climate vulnerability, and a continuing reminder that governance in Jammu and Kashmir is still too fragile to guarantee something as basic as safe and reliable movement. A comprehensive policy report accessed by the Rising Kashmir, titled “Politics of Mobility in Jammu & Kashmir: Infrastructure, Security, Governance and Everyday Movement”, prepared by the Assistant Regional Transport Officer (ARTO) Er Mubashir Jan, must be read not as another policy note destined for a government shelf, but as a serious indictment of a broken and overburdened system. It rightly argues that mobility in J&K is not an isolated departmental matter. Here, roads are arteries of survival. They carry trade, tourism, emergency services, education and everyday life. When they are blocked, damaged or badly managed, the consequences are immediate and punishing. The worst hit, as always, is the ordinary citizen. The reality is stark. National Highway-44 remains Kashmir’s lifeline, yet it continues to function under constant stress. Every closure triggers panic, shortages, delays and uncertainty. One road cannot bear the burden of an entire region’s economic and social movement. Yet year after year, J&K remains trapped in the same cycle; temporary repairs, reactive measures and loud claims of preparedness that collapse with the next spell of rain, snow or landslide. This is where the report is particularly timely. It strips away the illusion that infrastructure alone is enough. A mountain region facing climate shocks cannot survive on outdated engineering, weak drainage, poor slope protection and emergency response systems that wake up only after disaster strikes. Recurring floods, avalanches, landslides and snow disruptions are no longer exceptional events. They are part of a new reality. Governance that fails to adapt to this reality is governance in denial. The same neglect is visible in public transport. Rural and hilly areas still depend heavily on Tata Sumos, minibuses and shared vehicles because the formal system has failed to reach the people. These operators keep the UT moving, but they do so in conditions shaped by poor regulation, overloading and safety risks. A government cannot celebrate connectivity while leaving commuters at the mercy of an informal and overstretched system. The report’s recommendations: intelligent enforcement, climate-resilient roads, regulated tourism transport, digital systems and gender-sensitive planning are practical and urgent. But the real question is not what needs to be done. The real question is why it has taken so long to admit what people in J&K live every day. Mobility is not a side issue. It is governance in action. If roads remain fragile, transport chaotic and planning reactive, then every promise of development will ring hollow. Jammu and Kashmir does not need another document of concern. It needs execution, accountability and the political courage to treat mobility as a right, not an afterthought.