Govt has miserably failed to ensure hassle-free movement of fruit trucks: Abdullah

NC president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said the present dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir has "miserably failed" in ensuring hassle-free movement of fruit-laden trucks, which will have a "devastating, crippling effect" on the UT's economy.

Srinagar:NC president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said the present dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir has "miserably failed" in ensuring hassle-free movement of fruit-laden trucks, which will have a "devastating, crippling effect" on the UT's economy. He made the remark while interacting with the delegation that called on him at his residence here.

The visiting delegation apprised the National Conference president about the plethora of issues concerning them. Abdullah assured them he will air their woes at all appropriate levels. "The incumbent administration has so far failed to augment efforts of fruit growers by failing to provide them requisite logistic support, the halting of the fresh fruit laden trucks from Kashmir to different parts of the country is a point in case," the Lok Sabha MP said.

Abdullah said horticulturalists, small-scale traders, and artisans all are "suffering" at the same time. "It seems that the government has so far failed to understand the demands and requirements of people of JK, otherwise, they would have ensured that such vital sectors of our economy do not suffer this way," he said.

Far from pulling J-K from the "great depression" it finds itself in, the policies pursued by the incumbent J-K administration have "further compounded the woes of our people", he added. Fruit growers of Kashmir on Monday held a demonstration here against the alleged stopping of apple-laden trucks by authorities at various places along the national highway en route to terminal markets of the country. (PTI)