8,000 apple-laden trucks stranded on highway, farmers hold protest in Kashmir
Samaan Lateef
Srinagar, September 26
Fruit growers on Monday began a two-day protest across Kashmir as they said 8,000 trucks carrying apples were stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu highway for the last two weeks. Truckloads of apples are rotting on the highway, triggering anger among fruit growers over the losses.
Roadworks are being carried out on the highway that is also witnessing shooting stones. All 10 major wholesale fruit markets in the Kashmir valley were shut on Sunday and Monday as farmers protested against what they said was traffic mismanagement.
Beyond human control
There’s difficulty in traffic movement due to shooting stones. It is beyond human control. —PK Pole, Divisional Commissioner
“At least 8,000 trucks carrying apples worth Rs 100 crore are stranded on the highway for the last two weeks,” Bashir Ahmad Basheer, the head of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Union, told The Tribune.
Stranded truckers allege that they are not being allowed to move even as the road is open for other commuters. Almost the entire 40-km roadside stretch along the highway from Mir Bazaar in Anantnag to Banihal in Ramban district is occupied by stranded trucks.
Drivers say the foul-smelling juice is oozing from the boxes of rotting apples in the stranded trucks, which otherwise take two days to reach the Delhi fruit mandi.
Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Pandurang K Pole said the stranded trucks would be cleared by Monday night. “As many as 3,995 apple trucks moved towards Jammu on Sunday as intermittent shooting stones are causing regular stoppages. Over 29,000 apple trucks have crossed the highway from September 1 to 25,” he added.
Former CM Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the halting of trucks on the highway was a deliberate attempt to make the people of Kashmir suffer.
Kashmir’s Rs 8,000-crore apple industry faced a major crisis after the Valley saw back-to-back lockdowns in 2019 after the suspension of Article 370 and later due to the Covid pandemic.
