Minimise dependency on highway
The road connectivity between Jammu and Srinagar has always grabbed headlines. Few years back this highway would offer lot of roadblocks to commuters as well as load carrying vehicles.
The road stretch between Ramban and Banihal and elsewhere would always trouble the drivers and unpredicted landslides and shooting stones made life even more difficult, especially during the winters.
However, as the union government initiated the four lanning project of the highway, things started to change and people would feel the ease of travel on the highway with travel time getting reduced to five hours instead of the 12 hour ordeal.
But this ease proved to be short-lived as the recent incessant rainfall followed by landslides and shooting stones, turned huge patches of highway into absolute mess and traffic had to be suspended for almost ten days.
Now that the highway has been made motorable once again but the questions on its dependency have again cropped up. The highway between Jammu and Srinagar has to be a dependent option as the backbone of Kashmir’s economy; especially the fruit trade is entire dependent on the well-being of the road.
Kashmir’s prized apple industry, worth nearly Rs 12,000 crore annually, suffered a severe blow by the recent floods and the prolonged closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The highway, the Valley’s only all-weather road link, remained shut for days together.
Initial estimates by trade bodies suggest that the losses could cross Rs 500–600 crore, with the quality of fruit deteriorating due to the delay in transportation to outside markets. Industry experts fear the figure may rise further if restrictions on heavy vehicles continue and the highway is not made fit enough so that load bearing vehicles can cross over. .
According to the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Association, nearly 60% of the harvested crop from South Kashmir is stuck due to the highway closure. Traders warn that the ripple effect will be felt across cold stores, packaging units and transport services.
The situation has turned nightmarish for the growers who are now urging the government to ensure alternate routes, financial relief and crop insurance cover to prevent the crisis from snowballing into a long-term disaster.
Though the demands that have been raised offer timely solutions to the problems but the real challenge is to ensure a dependable and all weather route to ensure that fruit trade survives and continues its contribution to national development.
One such measure that the government has announced is to ensure regular running of parcel vans to export fruits from Kashmir to Jammu and Delhi.
The move will bring relief to the horticulture sector in Kashmir Valley, which has suffered losses due to the prolonged closure of the Highway and will ensure that no future loses take place.
The government has as of now initiated running of two parcel vans from Thursday, but the step needs to be transformed into a permanent feature so that this marks the advent of a transformative era in Kashmir’s logistics, offering a faster, more reliable route for the Valley’s celebrated horticultural and other produce to reach national markets.
