Kashmir Restrictions And Threats Have Upset The Jammu Apple Cart

It is the season of apples. The Jammu fruit mandi, one of the premier markets of its kind in India, would daily receive, on an average, 400 trucks — which is around 2,40,000 boxes of apple. But now, locals say about 40 trucks get unloaded a day – there is a 90 percent decline in supply. “This is for the first time in many decades that we are witnessing such a drop,” said Parveen Kumar Gupta, president of the Jammu fruit association.

There are 385 businessmen in the Jammu fruit mandi who receive apples from Kashmir between August and December. September to October is the peak season. However, after the central government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status on August 5 and restructured the state into two union territories, life in Kashmir has been unsettled. Initially, there were curfew-like restrictions in most parts of the Valley. Later, the government eased the lockdown. Now, life is limping back towards normalcy. Internet and mobile telephony are still curtailed in the Valley. In Jammu, mobile internet remains snapped.

In Kashmir, most of the apple growers are not plucking the yield which is ripe. At places, jihadi groups have allegedly issued threats to growers and buyers. The over Rs 8,000-crore apple industry, which is considered the backbone of Kashmir economy, remains badly hit.