Srinagar, Sep 26: Peoples’ Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Gani Lone Monday said the stranding of fruit-laden vehicles on the Srinagar-Jammu highway will raise questions and “the onus of convincing fruit growers that nothing is deliberate lies on the government of the day”.
Lone, in a series of tweets, said “the stranding of fruit-laden vehicles in the context of an extremely hard policy during the last 3 years and total detachment from masses will raise questions”. The PC president said the onus of convincing fruit growers that nothing is deliberate lies on the government of the day. He said the apple horticulturists were demanding smooth movement of their produce and not asking for doles or government jobs.
In a statement issued here, former legislator and senior PC leader Mansoor Hussain Sohrawardhy said that thousands of trucks loaded with high-quality apples are stranded on the highway for days together, ruthlessly damaging the prized fruit.
“The highway situation as being witnessed today was never ever witnessed in the past. It used to be a priority of the successive regimes to ensure safe passage of the apple trucks on the highway so that they could reach their respective destinations without delay. However, the present regime seems to be unaware of the sensitivity of such a vital sector. Keeping these trucks halted for days on the highway amid soaring temperatures is calamitous to the core,” Sohrawardhy said.