jj correspondent
Srinagar, Sep 27: Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday has demanded passage of Kashmir fruit laden trucks on the Srinagar-Jammu National highway on priority basis.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Bukhari urged the authorities to ensure smooth movement of fruit laden trucks on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway so that the growers could not suffer and fruit should not get rotten on the way.
He said, we approached Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and requested him to ensure that the road is thrown open for the halted trucks laden with fruits before these get perishable.
“Last night we were informed that the road is being cleared for the halted fruit trucks. I appreciate the efforts by the concerned authorities for throwing the road open for these trucks. But at the same time, I would like to ask them why they didn’t make some efforts 15 days ago and why they let these trucks remain halted for such a long period”, he questioned.
He said, “Given the pathetic economic condition of people here, and given the fact that a dominant majority of the Valley’s population is dependent on the fruit industry for their livelihood, authorities should ensure that fruit trucks should be given smooth passage on the Highway.”
He expressed his deep concern over the flooding of untaxed Iranian apples into the Indian markets which are causing losses to the Kashmir fruit growers.
He also urged the Union government to ensure illegal apple import is stopped to save the domestic fruit industry.
Bukhari requested the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to talk to his Bangladesh counterpart to ease the export duty on Indian apples.
He said, “We see plenty of apples coming from Afghanistan into the Indian market. But the question is whether this fruit really comes from Afghanistan or not. And, does that country produce apples in such a quantity or not”, he questioned.
He explained, “We know as a matter of fact that this fruit is being imported via Afghanistan to evade taxes, as under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement there is zero duty on anything that comes from Afghanistan. The traders are evading duty by sending this fruit via Afghanistan and it is a clear case of illegal duty evasion. The government must take action to stop this illegitimate practice.”
Bukhari added that the overflowing of duty-free apple imports into the Indian markets is causing a dent in the Valley’s fruit industry.
He said, “Kashmir’s more than eighty percent population is directly or indirectly dependent on the fruit industry for their livelihood, thus the government must take initiative to safeguard our fruit industry from the losses.”
He said, “I request the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter to stop the illegal import of apples into the Indian market and save Kashmir’s fruit industry from further losses.” UNI
