Pulwama fruit growers protest over ‘stopping’ of fruit laden trucks
Pulwama: The fruit growers in south Kashmir’s Pulwama on Wednesday staged a protest and demanded that fruit laden trucks should not be stopped at the National highway as it leads to the losses.
The growers held a peaceful protest at Prichoo Pulwama and said that the crop gets boiled and damaged resulting in losses to apple growers as the apple laden trucks remain stuck for days together.
They said that the traffic from Valley towards Jammu is allowed only for three to four hours and thereafter trucks are not allowed to move forward.
“It is not possible to pass the fruit loaded trucks within a shortest period of time with the result fruit loaded trucks are stopped in the way for around three days resulting in huge losses,” they said.
They said the stoppage of fruit loaded trucks for 2-3 days in the way on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway (NH44) adds more misery due to the late arrival of their apple crop to respective destinations.
“Growers are already suffering due to low demand in the market and now stopping on national highways may lead to heavy losses to growers,” they said.
They said that the government is well aware about the issue but has not taken any steps in this regard.
They urged the higher ups to look into the matter on humanitarian ground and pass directions to concerned authorities so that growers will not suffer anymore.
Jahangeer Ganaie
