Says Omar called Gadkari too late; seeks exclusive corridor for fruit trucks
WAJAHAT SHABIR
SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has warned that the state’s horticulture industry, considered the backbone of Kashmir’s economy, is facing severe losses due to poor management of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
She said that despite the highway always being under the Centre’s control, successive governments understood its importance and ensured timely repairs to safeguard the interests of fruit growers.
Addressing the media Mehbooba said, “The horticulture industry is well-known to the government. They are the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir, especially of Kashmir. And the National Highway is the lifeline of this backbone”.
Now, this National Highway hasn’t gone to the central government just today—it has always been under the Centre. But whichever governments were in power earlier, they understood that the fruit industry kept Jammu and Kashmir alive through very difficult times. It provides employment to lakhs of people and generates income worth crores, which sustains families and runs our state. That is why earlier governments always made it a point to ensure that the National Highway was repaired and kept functional at the earliest, she said.
Even today, Omar Sahib is called Nitin Gadkari Ji. But this call could have been made 15 days ago. Everyone knows that the National Highway is not under the Jammu and Kashmir government—it has always been under the Centre, whether during Farooq Sahib’s time, Mufti Sahib’s time, or my time, Mehbooba said.
Even during Omar Sahib’s tenure, it was with the central government. So, to say now that it’s not in our control does not free you from responsibility. Farmers here put in their hard work and sweat all year, take loans from banks, and today fruit worth crores—actually, worth billions—has gone to waste. And even now, we don’t know for how long the road will remain functional, she said.
Unless the state government and the Centre together create an exclusive corridor—for example, if trucks loaded with produce are allowed to reach Qazigund by 6 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. only fruit trucks are permitted to move—this industry cannot survive. Otherwise, just adding two wagons in a train makes no difference. Unless you run an entire train dedicated to this, which can carry a huge load, and even then, transporting it from the train to the mandis (markets) remains a big challenge.
This is a very serious issue. The state government should have taken it up seriously with Gadkari Sahib much earlier. I myself issued a statement on this on September 2 because I could already see that if the government did not act in time, our people, our farmers, would face severe difficulties in the future, Mehbooba told the media.
Adding that she said tourism is already paralyzed, as you can see. On top of that, some criminals recently mixed rotten meat with genuine supplies, which damaged the market for the honest traders and hotel businesses. Not everyone was selling bad meat, but the whole trade suffered. Tourism collapsed, hoteliers suffered, restaurants suffered. Now, only our fruit industry is left, and even that is suffering massive losses.
I believe that unless an exclusive, committed corridor is reserved from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. only for trucks carrying fruit—without allowing any other vehicles—and unless the rough patches of the road are properly leveled, this problem will not be solved, she said.
