Jahangeer Ganaie
Pulwama, Oct 4: Residents of Tral hamlet in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district are demanding proper fruit mandi in their area, saying they have to send their consignments to far off areas.
Tral comprises about 100 villages with the majority of people owning orchards but the area is yet to have a proper fruit mandi.
Waheed Ahmad, a fruit grower of Tral said that in absence of fruit mandi, the growers are sending their produce to Mandis in different districts, causing economic losses to them.
He said that on a temporary basis, a mandi has been established at Nowdal Tral but that is not enough to cater the area, adding that it would have been easy for growers to take their produce to nearby mandi and hence saving their time and money.
Aabid Hameed, another grower said that four years ago, the government promised them that there would be a fruit mandi in Nowdal area of Tral sub division but it is nowhere in sight.
He said that 20 kanals of land was also identified and trees were also uprooted in 2020 but the work is yet to be started on it.
Locals said that currently Mandi is functioning in temporary sheds but in absence of facilities like fencing, macadamization of roads and other things, people are suffering.
Despite bringing this issue into the notice of concerned authorities several times, nothing has been done as of now, they said.
They urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene in the matter at an earliest.
Meanwhile, an official of the Horticulture, Planning and Marketing department said that they have submitted the plan for fruit mandi at Nowdal Tral to higher ups.
“We are waiting for a nod and the work will be started accordingly,” he said. (KNO)
