SRI NAGAR: The Valley fruit growers, who incurred heavy losses since the scrapping of Article 370 fear for the worse as over 6000 apple-laden trucks are stranded on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only link road connecting Kashmir with rest of the country, from last 13 days.
Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers cum Dealers Union president, Bashir Ahmad Bashir told this newspaper that about 10,000 to 12000 apple-laden trucks are stranded in the highway in south Kashmir since December 8.
“All the trucks are carrying apple. The minimum value of apples carried by a truck is around Rs 5 lakhs. And since 10,000 to 12,000 trucks are stranded on highway, they are carrying apples worth over Rs 500 crores,” Bashir said.
“Once the trucks reach the markets outside, the fruit will be in abundance. We will have to accept throwaway prices to offload the stranded crop,” he said. SSP Traffic Muzaffar Ahmad Shah said the authorities are not allowing movement of heavy vehicles on highway due to hostile weather.