Kashmir’s apple industry is facing a major crisis these days as hundreds of fruit laden trucks are halted frequently along the Srinagar Jammu national highway and most apples end up rotten.
Kashmir’s apple industry, the mainstay of its economy, is facing a crisis in a year of a bumper crop. While the price of the fruit in the country’s top markets has seen a sharp slide this year, thousands of apple-laden trucks remain stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway “for days” together, leading to a glut in the mandis and a further dip in the price of the fruit.
Fruit growers, however, mainly blame the “mismanagement of traffic” on the National Highway-44 for their sufferings. As a mark of protest, all the fruit mandis of Kashmir remained shut on Sunday and Monday.
Lack of smooth passage to trucks carrying fruits, essentially apples, on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway has taken a heavy toll on fruit growers across Kashmir, as they continue to face losses and stare at an impending livelihood crisis.
Notably, the apple industry, worth Rs 8,000 crore, is the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy. As many as 3.5 million persons are directly or indirectly dependent on the apple trade, contributing about 8 per cent to the region’s GDP.
Several fruit growers and representatives of associations said that despite a government order to ensure seamless movement of fruit-laden vehicles, authorities have miserably failed to implement it on ground.
“Fruit-laden trucks are halted at Qazigund for around a week and after that, they get their turn to move towards Jammu,” the fruit growers alleged. They said that the fruit industry is crumbling due to low rates of fruits and a host of other challenges and if the government doesn’t ensure hassle-free movement of fruit-laden trucks, things may get worse. “When the apples reach markets on time, they will fetch a good rate,” they pointed out.
“Despite recent government orders, vehicles get their turn to move towards Jammu only after 4-5 days and when the produce reaches the market late, it doesn’t get the rate that it should have fetched,” they said.
President of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers Union (KVFGCDU) said that they were hopeful that the government would take this issue seriously and implement directions on ground but that is yet to happen. “We are unable to understand what the authorities want.”
He said that it is a matter of livelihood for around 60-70 per cent of the population of Kashmir and the government and authorities must take it seriously. Bhat said that around 8,000 fruit-laden trucks are waiting to move towards Jammu and it is not possible that they will cross the road in just three hours.
Last week, the Inspector General of Police, Traffic directed all SSPs of traffic, including SSP National Highway, to take immediate measures so that fruit-laden trucks are provided a smooth passage and are not stranded. “Besides, extra time may be given to down convoy to ensure clearance of stranded fruit-laden vehicles and it was assured no vehicle would be allowed for up traffic on down HMV days to ensure hassle-free movement.”
Horticulture is the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy with seven lakh families directly and indirectly associated with the sector. The horticulture contributes seven percent to the Gross State Domestic Product of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir is the largest producer of apple in the country.
The political parties have hit out at the J&K government for its failure to allow smooth flow of these trucks to other parts of the country.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti too alleged that the apple trucks were being deliberately halted.
“After deliberately holding up fruit laden trucks for days endlessly & causing massive losses, LG admin is now interfering with movement of tribals & their livestock. It seems that the administration is bent upon making every resident & community of J&K suffer miserably,” she tweeted.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC) on Monday expressed grave concern over the halting of apple-loaded trucks on Jammu- Srinagar national highway, terming such a situation lethal for Kashmir’s economy in more ways than one.
National Conference General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar slammed government over it’s failure on implementation of smooth movement of fresh fruit trucks.
Meanwhile, Kashmir’s Divisional Commissioner said the administration was making all efforts to maintain the flow of trucks.
In a series of tweets, Kashmir’s Divisional Commissioner said all stranded Jammu bound trucks will be cleared by tonight, around 4000 truck are on way.
“Normally apple production in Kashmir is 17 metric ton but due to abundant rainfall, there has been a bumper crop and will cross 21 metric ton,” he said and appealed to the drivers of empty vehicles to use Mughal road., Ahmedabad and other cities.
Former Member Parliament and member of Congress Working Committee, Tariq Hameed Karra said that to halt thousands of fruit-laden trucks on Srinagar-Jammu national highway is an insensitive act and administrative failure.
“The failure of Jammu and Kashmir administration to manage and facilitate the clearance of around 8,000 fruit-laden trucks stranded at Qazigund and on Srinagar- Jammu National Highway, is sheer insensitiveness,” he said.
He also said it is unfortunate that since many days, fruit-laden trucks have been stopped on national highway which is causing huge losses to the apple industry and thereby, also resulting in loss of livelihood to thousands of people who are associated with the fruit industry.
National Conference Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani said the apathetic attitude of the authorities towards the fruit industry is taking a heavy toll on Kashmir’s horticulture sector. Wani said this following a meeting of a delegation of fruit growers who called on him. They discussed issues ranging from hassle-free transport of fruits and falling rates due to flooding of imported apples.
Meanwhile. Fruit Association Sopore has asked apple growers to slow down the harvesting of apples from orchardists as they say many fruit-laden vehicles are stuck on the national highway for many days.
Chairman Sopore Fruit Mandi said that for the past 8-10 days, thousands of fruit-laden trucks are stranded on Srinagar-Jammu national highway and not going through, causing massive losses to growers and buyers across Kashmir Valley.
“We are urging all fruit growers of Kashmir Valley that slow down the process of your apple harvesting to avoid more losses,” he pointed out.
Kashmir’s fruit season starts in May when the first crop of cherry is harvested. It is followed by pears and other fruits which hit the market in the following months. Apple is almost the last crop that hits the market in autumn. Bulk of the apples is exported to the markets in Delhi. Some of the crop is also sold in Bangalore, Mumbai
The harvesting season peaks during the last days of September and the beginning of October. “We still have around 8-10 days of time where we can wait for harvesting,” he said.
“We are also requesting growers not to dispatch fruit boxes to fruit mandies, as there is already huge number of boxes lying unattended,” he said. “We were hopeful after the government issued advisories, but we don’t see them being implemented on the ground in spirit,” Bhat said.
Reacting to the continued blockade of vehicles on national highway, All Valley Fruit Association also decided to announce a shutdown of fruit mandies across Kashmir, on October 25-26.
