Finally, a sigh of relief! The Jammu and Kashmir government has facilitated the evacuation of 4,873 fruit-laden trucks over the past two days. These included 2,239 trucks via the Sinagar-Jammu National Highway and 2,634 via Mughal Road. Divisional Administration, Kashmir, mobilized all available resources to expedite the transportation of horticultural produce. Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo has been monitoring the situation closely, conducting daily reviews with all stakeholder departments to address the concerns of fruit growers and traders. The administration has also undertaken several measures to facilitate valley-bound trucks carrying essential commodities, including LPG, petrol, diesel, fresh fruits, vegetables, and life-saving drugs to replenish the stocks and cater to the local demand. Kudos to Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Divisional Commissioner Anshul Garg, IGP Traffic, and other officers who have been working overtime to ensure the transportation of fruit and other essential commodities. For the last several days, hundreds of trucks carrying fruits, vegetables, and essentials have remained stranded on the highway. The highway suffered extensive damage during landslides triggered by heavy rains last month. Particularly, a 300-meter stretch in Udhampur has been washed away. The prolonged closure of the highway, which is a lifeline for Kashmir, has hit people from all strata. Be it a fruit grower or a businessman, the closure has once again brought focus on the vulnerability of the highway. Kashmir, being a landlocked valley, depends heavily on the highway. Hundreds and thousands of trucks carrying essentials negotiate sharp curves on the highway daily. A day of highway blockade costs thousands of crores to traders and businessmen in Kashmir. Financial losses aside, it also creates psychological tension. This was proven once again when people queued up at the filling stations, fearing a shortage of petroleum products. Though the notion was immediately dispelled by the government, the unease was palpable on the ground. Kashmir’s business is based on a fragile model. Tourism and service industries are the major revenue earners. We lag in the industrial setup. Manufacturing is almost zero. Our handicrafts are only the silver lining. Of late, it too is witnessing an onslaught of fakes and counterfeits. In a nutshell, the Srinagar-Jammu highway is a lifeline. Ferrying goods through the Mughal Road escalates transport costs, which makes them expensive in the highly competitive market. In this scenario, the only hope is the Kashmir train. The recent experiment of parcel trains has proved highly successful. It brought relief to apple farmers. Hundreds of tonnes of fruit were ferried to Adarsh Nagar in Delhi. The government should make it a permanent feature. More goods and parcel trains should be plied daily to and fro from Kashmir. It will give a fillip to the local economy. Plus, the reliance on the Srinagar-Jammu highway can somehow be reduced by regular goods trains. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have been kind and considerate toward Kashmir. Hope they will make goods trains a permanent feature on the Kashmir-Delhi section.
A sigh of relief!
