Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 24: Parimpora Fruit Mandi Association today accused the Government of hitting their business by stopping fruit laden trucks on Srinagar- Jammu National Highway.
The Association decided to stop the trade from April 29 against “blocking trade of perishable items by stopping trucks to and fro Kashmir.”
Addressing a press conference here, President of the Association, Bashir Ahmad Bashir said that since three months Government has been blocking the trucks for unexplained reasons and putting trucks to halt for days together, “They know it well that fruits or vegetables are highly perishable items and can’t remain intact for days together. After two days of a halt on road, we have to throw them away,” Bashir said.
He accused the Government of deliberately hitting the trade creating an economic blockade of the valley, “Traffic is already one way and then restrictions on the highway adding to it from the past three months trucks are being made to halt and not allowed to move towards the valley or to move from the valley,” he said.
He claimed that they already had talked to Divisional Commissioner Kashmir and Jammu, to Horticulture Department and to both SSPs of Traffic in Jammu and Srinagar but no one took any action. ”Fruits and vegetables are part of the mainstay of the economy,” he said.
He said that since the Government is unmoved by their plight they have decided to stop the trade from April 29. ”Ramadan is nearer, Ladakh road has been opened but people will suffer as there will not be enough vegetable supplies and no fruits in the market. Maybe that will make the Government act,” he said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel