Shopian, Sep 11: The Fruit Association Shopian on Thursday raised serious concern over the repeated halts of apple-laden trucks along Mughal Road, warning that the restrictions are pushing Kashmir’s fruit industry towards devastating losses.
At a press conference, Association President Mohammad Ashraf accused authorities of allowing truck movement for only a few hours a day and restricting passage to six-tyre vehicles, leaving thousands of trucks stranded. He said the discriminatory traffic management gives free passage to vehicles from the Poonch side while limiting those from Shopian.
“Barely 150 trucks carrying apples were allowed to move today, while other goods vehicles like oil tankers and poultry carriers passed freely. Now fruit trucks will have to wait at least two more days for their turn, which could lead to catastrophic losses,” Ashraf said.
The Association demanded that if only six-tyre trucks are permitted, they should be allowed to move throughout the day on alternate days, rather than for just a few hours. Ashraf appealed directly to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to intervene and prevent the apple crop from rotting inside stranded trucks.
Meanwhile, truck drivers staged a protest near Circuit House Shopian, alleging that traffic police violated their own advisories by permitting only a handful of trucks every two hours, despite earlier assurances of free passage.
Growers stressed that such delays not only destroy perishable produce but also threaten Kashmir’s economic backbone. “Apple is not just a crop, it’s the livelihood of lakhs of families. Prolonged restrictions on Mughal Road are crippling the sector,” one grower said.
Both growers and truckers jointly urged the administration to ensure smooth, timely, and fair movement of fruit trucks, warning that negligence during the peak harvest season could devastate the region’s apple industry.