Amid ‘Zulm ab Bandh Karo’ slogans, M Y Tarigami on Sunday reached Kulgam to address a one-day convention of apple farmers from various parts of south Kashmir.
The senior CPI (M) leader and PAGD spokesperson, Yusuf Tarigami said that a wave of mourning has run throughout Kashmir seeing the plight of apple farmers in the valley. “Be it north, Central or south, everyone in Kashmir is deeply anguished seeing the condition of apple farmers,” Tarigami said.
It was unfortunate, he said, that the officials were lying about the truckers being allowed on preference to travel to Jammu. “For Kashmiris traveling outside the valley, the highway is opened for four hours only, and for those traveling into the valley, the Highway is opened for 12 hours,” he claimed.
He said that on one side the Kashmiri fruit is being stopped and the apple farmers remain unheard and on the other, the foreign fruit is being allowed without any taxes into the region and despite several complaints against the foreign apples being sold as Kashmiri apples in the Indian market, the entry of foreign apples goes unchecked.
“I want to ask the Government of India why is it so upset with Kashmiris that it is blocking our apples from entering the market,” he said.
Seeking the intervention of LG Manoj Sinha, he said, “The LG should immediately intervene into the matter and do beyond the lip service. He said that PM Modi has assured that a Minimum Support Price (MSP) would be granted to all the farmers, however, the apple farmers are not being provided the MSP service and they have incurred losses worth millions due to the reducing rates.”