Why Is Sopore Fruit Mandi President, Once a Close Aide to Agri Minister, Now Isolated Among His Own?
Suhail Khan
Sopore, Sep 19 : Asia’s second-largest fruit mandi is struggling with mounting losses amounting to crores due to the recent closure of the national highway. But where is the local Agriculture Minister? BJP and other leaders have visited the mandi – where is Javid Dar? Why have National Conference leaders, including the local MLA, skipped their visit to this fruit market ?questions mount.
Are tours more important than people’s suffering? Affected farmers are questioning.
In conversation with The Web Story/The Varmul Post, scores of pained, affected, and helpless farmers and fruit growers are asking Where is our Agriculture Minister? Why didn’t he visit us? Why did he skip a visit to this fruit mandi – despite it being Asia’s second-largest, despite its vital economic role, and despite being the sole source of income for thousands of families?
“It is very disheartening to see our own son of the soil missing at a time when we really need him. Unfortunately, he is busy on a foreign trip instead of listening to us and supporting us at this crucial time,” said Shaban, a local fruit grower.
He added, “We are facing huge losses. Our year’s earnings are on the ground, spoiling in trucks. Where can we go? Whom can we ask? Who will help us? We were very hopeful having our own Agriculture Minister, but unfortunately, at this hour when the whole fruit industry is struggling, he didn’t even prefer to visit us.”
Another fruit grower, Sanaullah Dar, shared similar pain following the continuous closure of the national highway: “It’s disturbing and heartbreaking – stories in our homes of our year’s hard work being wasted before our eyes, and we are helpless. Is this what we cast our votes for the National Conference for? Is this the punishment we get? Has our Agriculture Minister forgotten us, especially at this stage when we needed him the most? Is it because there are no elections now that he is not present with us at the ground level?”
“Was his Australia trip more important than our suffering? Is he not even interested in visiting this fruit market where every day leaders from different political parties are visiting? Is this sector not important to him?” he questioned.
Speaking to The Web Story/The Varmul Post, Sopore Fruit Mandi President Fayaz Ahmed Malik (Kakaji) stated that the Agriculture Minister’s absence has truly hurt them. “Had he been here, perhaps we would not have had to face this situation,” he said. “It is very disheartening that not a single leader from the elected government has visited us here at the industry, not even the local MLA.”
When asked why the agriculture Minister did not visit despite being back from his foreign trip, Kakaji did not answer properly and refused to talk further. However, the tone suggested that all is not well between the Minister and his once-close aide, Kakaji.
Notably, Agriculture Minister Javid Ahmad Dar has continuously visited the Sopore fruit mandi in the past – from inaugurating minor developmental work to macadamizing roads. However, at this crucial time when the fruit industry is struggling and suffering, the Minister skipped the visit.
The irony is that the Agriculture Minister visited the world-famous health resort Gulmarg, which is just 35 kilometers from Asia’s second-largest fruit mandi in Sopore, but skipped a visit to this industry.
Meanwhile, in a major relief, the Jammu Kashmir Road Transport Corporation (JKRTC) deployed trucks on Friday to transport apple boxes from the Sopore Fruit Mandi to Delhi’s Azadpur fruit mandi.
