Owais Gul
Srinagar, Sep 15: Amid growing outrage over the stranding of apple-laden trucks on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said he had spoken to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, regarding Jammu and Kashmir’s lack of connectivity with the rest of the country.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Chief Minister said he had discussed the situation along National Highway-44 with the Union Minister.
“Just spoke to Union Minister @MORTHIndia @nitin_gadkari Sb regarding the situation along NH-44 and the lack of connectivity with the rest of the country along this vital link,” Omar said.
The Chief Minister said the frustration of fruit growers is understandable.
“They have been very patient for the first few days, but watching their hard work rot because NHIDCL is unable to stabilise the highway—their patience has worn thin, and that is totally understandable,” Omar said.
He added that concrete steps are expected to be taken within the next 24 hours to address the issue but refrained from sharing further details until the plan is officially implemented.
“Some concrete steps will be taken within the next 24 hours to address this problem, but I will wait for that to happen before I say any more about the proposed plan of action,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister said the Union Government should hand over the highway to the J&K Government if it cannot maintain it.
“Had the highway been under my control, I would have opened it. This highway falls under the jurisdiction of the Government of India. If they cannot maintain it, they should hand it over to us. I will deploy a team of engineers who are currently available here,” Omar said.
He further stated that the Central Government has failed to restore the road.
“Enough is enough. We have been patient because they kept assuring us daily that restoration work would be done, but it hasn’t happened,” he said.
The Chief Minister also urged the Railway Minister to run train services regularly to ferry fruits to various markets across the country.
“I would request the Railway Minister that one train is not sufficient. We are thankful to you for starting the train service, but it should be operated on a regular basis so that fruit growers have the option to transport apples either by train or by road,” he said.
