Shivering in major power outages, Kashmir spurs kangri sales

It’s three years since the government promised round-the-clock electricity with ₹35,000 crore investments in new projects

Prolonged electricity outages have spurred the sale of kangris, the wicker-covered, charcoal-filled earthen pot used for heating in the winters by people in Kashmir, three years after the government promised round-the-clock electricity with ₹35,000 crore investments in new power projects. Kashmir faces unscheduled power cuts of six to 12 hours a day in its urban pockets, with minimum temperatures already hovering at less than one degree Celsius in most parts of the valley.

Continuing to be popular with the lower middle class and in rural pockets even after the more affluent switched to electricity-powered heating gadgets, the centuries-old heating device now finds favour among all classes of society to keep warm in the bitter cold of winter. A kangri, which can cost from ₹250 to ₹1,500, depending on the intricacy of the work on the wicker basket, has become a barometer of the deteriorating power situation in the Union Territory.