Bangladesh fruit traders have stated that they will soon cease operations in Kashmir due to the unnecessary halting of their trucks on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. The fruit purchasers expressed regret that for the past 15 days, they have suffered significant losses due to the unnecessary halt of fruit-laden trucks and that the government has done nothing to address their concerns.
Before, fruit-laden trucks would arrive in Bangladesh in 6 to 7 days, but now due to the unnecessary stoppage of the vehicles, they take some 15 days. Bangladesh has become one of the speciality markets for Kashmir apples throughout the years. Local traders are focusing on Bangladesh since the returns are higher.
“We ship thousands of boxes of apples … to Bangladesh fruit markets daily. As Kashmiri apples have no match in the world. In Bangladesh, we have a huge demand for Kashmir apples,” said on fruit buyer from Bangladesh said.
Inspector General of Police orders immediate action
Inspector General of Police - Traffic, Vikramjit Singh, has ordered his forces to take immediate action to ensure the smooth passage to the fruit laden trucks.
The directions were passed days after the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers Union (KVFGCDU) staged protests in all Fruit Mandi’s of the Valley against what they termed as the deliberate stoppage of apple and pear loaded trucks on various spots of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
To ensure full transparency, IGP Traffic asked the Horticulture department and Horticulture associations to depute their representative with Traffic officials at Banihal and Qazigund, ensuring the smooth movement of fruit trucks.
Source: greaterkashmir.com