In a major relief to the fruit growers and traders, the Divisional Administration has facilitated the evacuation of 4,873 fruit-laden trucks over the past two days.
The operation, supervised by IG Traffic included evacuation of 2,239 trucks via the National Highway and 2,634 via the Mughal Road.
Besides, the last lot of 500 trucks are scheduled to be dispatched from Qazigund by Traffic police later tonight, thus clearing the entire backlog of stranded vehicles and streamlining the flow of traffic on the National Highway.
The Divisional Administration, under continuous guidance from Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, has mobilized all available resources to expedite the transportation of horticultural produce. Pertinently, the Chief Secretary has been monitoring the situation closely, conducting daily reviews with all stakeholder departments to ensure expeditious restoration of the highway, streamline flow of traffic and address the concerns of fruit growers and traders.
Besides, the administration has also undertaken necessary measures to facilitate Valley bound trucks carrying essential commodities viz LPG, Petrol, Diesel, fresh fruits & vegetables and life saving drugs to replenish the stocks and cater to the local demand.
Due to continued closure of Srinagar-Jammu highway, thousands of fruit laden trucks were stranded over the highway for about 15 days. However, with the restoration of the highway for heavy trucks, the fruit trucks are now heading to different markets in the country.
The fruit growers and traders have suffered losses of over Rs 1000 crores due to the continued closure of the highway.