Truck laden with fruit stopped unnecessarily on highway: Fruit dealers
Demands implement of MIS scheme, ban on spurious pesticides
Sopore: Dozens of fruit dealer’s alongwith representatives of transport associations on Tuesday held a protest demonstration at Fruit Mandi Sopore against the ‘unnecessary stoppage’ of fruit laden truck along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
The protestors including fruit growers, dealers association, transporters association and labourers associations also sat on a dharna at Asia’s second largest Fruit Mandi in Sopore seeking response from the government over the stoppage of vehicles.
The protesters claimed that they are suffering huge losses due to unnecessary stoppage of their supply trucks along Srinagar-Jammu national highway by the police.
While protesting, the protesters alleged that due to continuous stoppage of hundreds of fruit laden trucks by the police along highway the traders and dealers are facing huge loses.
“We are facing losses as the fruits laden in the trucks will rot inside the vehicles due to their unnecessary stoppage for 4-5 days,” the protesters said.
“The traders are facing huge losses since the past few years due to negligent attitude of the authorities and this approach is leading us nowhere,” President fruit growers and dealers association fruit Mandi Sopore, Fayaz Ahmad Malik, said.
He said that the authorities and police should come out with a plan and ensure that trucks laden with fruit are allowed to pass on priority basis so that the fruit is delivered in various markets across the country on time.
The protesting fruit traders also demanded the implementation of market intervention scheme so that they could avail the benefits of the said scheme.
“During the time of natural disaster or otherwise the fruit growers and traders have to bear all the loses alone as the government too does not come to their rescue,” Fayaz Malik said.
The protestors also demanded strict implement of ban on pesticides and fertilizer as according to them the sale of these substandard and spurious pesticides is creating major issues for the growers.
Bilal Ahmad
