Curfew and restrictions in the Valley have caused a loss of Rs 900 crore to fruit growers, the chairman of the Fruit Growers’ Union in Kashmir said on Friday.
Bashir Ahmad Bashir said that fruit growers had suffered heavy losses as this was the peak season for export of fruits from the Valley.
He said that due to unrelenting restrictions by security forces on vehicular movement, fruit growers and traders had suffered huge losses.
Bashir said that government forces were not allowing vehicles carrying fruits to go from villages to the city markets.
“Earlier we used to export 250 trucks of fruit to markets daily but the current situation has lowered this number to 20, which is a huge setback for the sector,’’ said Bashir.
Due to delay in transporting fruits to markets, much of the crop has rotted or is lying unsold, he said.
Refuting the claims of the Horticulture Department that hundreds of fruit trucks have been sent to markets outside the state, Bashir said this was a baseless claim.
“No such trucks have been dispatched to outside the state,” he said.
The fruit grower’s union has appealed to people to facilitate the smooth movement of trucks carrying fruits to markets.