Parimpora Fruit Marketing Complex, known as Fruit Mandi in local parlance has gone to dogs due to the callous attitude of the authorities. The roads of the Mandi are in shambles while massive encroachments and heaps of garbage piling on the roadsides are adversely affecting the day-to-day business there.
Parmipora Fruit Mandi in the 1980s was set up to develop it into a model Mandi. The roads of Mandi are full of potholes and deep ditches, causing innumerable problems for the commuters as well as fruit-laden trucks.
“Authorities never bothered to macadamize the roads of this Mandi. This Fruit Mandi is the victim of government apathy,” a group of traders told news agency Kashmir News Trust adding that a few inches of rainfall turn this Mandi into a cesspool.
They said that due to deep potholes, auto-rickshaws ferrying goods, fruits, etc from Mandi frequently overturn and two-wheelers skid, causing injuries to commuters.
They alleged that since 2009 when this Mandi was taken over by the department from Srinagar Development Authority, no attention was paid to its development.
“Visitors have to cross scores of potholes before making entry to Fruit Mandi. The shopkeepers and fruit traders had raised the issue many times in the past but authorities did not take any action. We are tired now and don’t want to appeal to the authorities. The ugly face of this Mandi shows the real face of development in Kashmir,” the traders said. _(KNT)