Srinagar, Sep 26 : Amid protests against the ‘unnecessary’ halt of fruit laden trucks along the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the fruit growers on Monday met the Transport Secretary and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Traffic, seeking immediate redressal of their grievances.
The delegation of fruit growers under the banner of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers cum Dealers Union (KVFGDU) met the officials today and apprised them about their sufferings and losses due to the halt of fruit laden trucks along the highway.
The government has assured them that all the stranded fruit laden trucks on the way to Jammu will be cleared tonight and more proactive steps will be taken to end the miseries of fruit growers and dealers.
President of KVFGDU, Basheer Ahmad told the news agency—that during the meeting with IGP traffic and transport secretary, they were assured that all fruit laden trucks halted in Qazigund will be cleared tonight and priority will be given to fruit laden trucks.
He said that since Sunday, the movement of apple laden trucks is continuously being allowed to move towards Jammu and they are hopeful that the government will prioritize the movement of apple laden trucks.
He on behalf of all fruit associations thanked government officials who were part of the meeting especially IGP traffic for listening to their issues and assuring that additional steps will be taken to increase the flow of apple trucks.
Meanwhile, the top officials told KNO that since 1st Sept, 45923 trucks (including 17631 apple trucks) have moved from Srinagar to Jammu via tunnel as per the details provided by NHAI.
Trucks have been allowed to ply from Srinagar to Jammu on the last 3 consecutive days 24th, 25th and 26th Sept.
On 24th Sept only 825 trucks (including 671 apple trucks) were allowed to ply after shooting stones started at Mehar and the traffic had to be suspended.
On 25th Sept, 4554 trucks (including 3995 apple trucks) were released, out of which 1500 trucks got stranded at Mehar on account of shooting stones and have passed down to Jammu today, they said.
On 26th Sept, trucks have again been released from Srinagar to Jammu and the backlog of all the approx 2500 trucks at Qazigund will get cleared today itself, they added.
Further, apple trucks are given priority for release in traffic at Qazigund as shown by the large majority of Apple trucks in the trucks released each day. “Hence in no case does any apple truck remain stranded at Qazigund for more than 2 days contrary to the false claims and propaganda that is being spread by vested interests. Traffic Police, J&K will initiate strict action against individuals who are spreading false and unverified information regarding the movement of apple trucks,” they added further.
Moreover, the traffic Police has taken a number of additional steps to increase the flow of Apple trucks, they said
