SRINAGAR: Government data placed before the Legislative Assembly show the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has suffered sharply reduced winter precipitation in recent seasons, with the India Meteorological Department reporting a 50.11 per cent shortfall for the period October 1, 2021, to February 28, 2025, and a 54.33 per cent shortfall for October 1, 2025, to February 28, 2026.
The administration says the deficits are concentrated in the Kashmir Division and are already affecting water availability, agriculture, horticulture, hydropower generation and livelihoods across the UT.
Officials said that a package of sectoral responses has been prepared and is being rolled out. The Jal Shakti Department is the lead for immediate water security measures: deployment of water tankers where needed, regulation of distribution in shortage-prone areas, operational strengthening of lift schemes by installing extra pumps, use of alternate sources, diversion bunds and intake upgrades, intensified leakage control and the setting up of district control rooms and public advisories. The department has also prioritised repair and upgradation of critical water supply infrastructure and plans free drinking water stations at public places.
Agriculture and horticulture interventions set out in the Assembly reply include promotion of water conservation, accelerated uptake of micro-irrigation, crop diversification towards less water-intensive and climate-resilient varieties, strengthened agro-meteorological advisories and district-level crop contingency plans under existing schemes. Officials said timely crop-specific advisories have already been issued and that the situation remains under continuous review.
The reply acknowledged gaps on the power side. The Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) told the Assembly it has not yet developed a comprehensive policy to address reduced snowfall impacts on hydropower generation. JKPDC has, however, initiated an Early Warning System for vulnerable river-based projects in line with Central Electricity Authority guidelines and is preparing a Disaster Management Plan for the Baglihar Hydroelectric Project; for non-storage projects, district disaster plans will be used.
Environmental and long-term resilience measures are also underway. The Forest, Ecology and Environment Department is revising the State Action Plan on Climate Change on the basis of a sector-wise and district-level vulnerability assessment; the revised plan proposes multiple adaptation and mitigation measures for the agriculture and water sectors. The department reported the plantation of more than 2.21 crore saplings in the last two years.
The government said it is expanding meteorological and early-warning capacity. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will install four additional Doppler radars and 34 automatic weather stations/snow gauges across the UT in addition to existing radars, and plans a hyper-local forecasting system for Himalayan districts. The Assembly note lists planned radar sites in Doda, Rajouri, Anantnag and Baramulla and further automatic stations and snow gauges for remote districts, including Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Rajouri, Udhampur, Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla and Shopian. The National Disaster Management Authority will also coordinate enhancements to forecasting and warning networks, the reply said.
Officials stressed that many interventions require coordination across departments — Forest, Agriculture, Jal Shakti and Power — and that implementation will proceed subject to available resources and approvals. The response annexes the sectoral action plans and states that measures such as irrigation scheduling, stage contracts for drought handling, de-silting for last-mile irrigation, and mobile and tankered water supplies have been set in train.
Not all gaps were presented as closed. The Assembly paper records that, while immediate operational steps have been identified, the Power Development Department has no single unified policy yet for hydropower contingency under persistent snow deficits, and several actions depend on completion of studies, approvals or funding. The reply does not provide firm deadlines for all measures, saying instead that implementation is “under continuous review” and will proceed in phases.
The full action plans and technical annexes were tabled with the reply and are available with Assembly records. The government said it will continue to monitor precipitation data from the IMD closely and adjust contingency measures as conditions evolve.
