Apple stocks dumped in ditches, as key highway remains closed for third week in Kashmir

Javeed Ahmad Rather, 28, a resident of Kulgam’s Lakhri Pora, on Tuesday (September 16, 2025) started digging pits to dispose 2,000 boxes of rotten apples after two trucks carrying them remained stranded for 10 days at the Qazigund checkpoint on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. Mr. Rather is among hundreds of local fruit traders who find themselves in a deep financial distress due to the three-week-long closure of the highway during peak harvest season.

Early this summer, Mr. Rather inspected orchards of Pulwama for days together to identify the best variety of apples for trading. “I am not an fruit grower but a fruit trader. I promised to pay ₹300 per box and hoped to get around ₹600 outside J&K. I have nothing but rotten apples now. I am digging a ditch to bury them,” Mr. Rather said. He is the sole breadwinner of his family.

Distressing scenes of fruit traders dumping rotten apples emerged from parts of the Valley on Tuesday (September 16, 2025). In the fruit markets of Kulgam in south Kashmir and Sopore in north Kashmir, fruit growers and traders were seen unloading rotten apples from trucks. 

“We nurture apple trees with blood and sweat. We keep a close eye on infections and do several rounds of spraying to ensure the apple production is of quality. It was our time to earn money for the efforts we put in all year. It has all gone to waste,” Shahid Dar, an apple grower from Kulgam, said.

As hundreds of trucks, stranded for the past two weeks, are being turned back from the 290-km Srinagar-Jammu highway to dump stinking produce in open orchards and fields, the losses could cross several hundred crores. The Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, has already set up a committee to estimate the losses due to the closure of the highway, which was damaged during heavy rain last month.

“It’s for the first time that our apple produce was stuck and left to rot on roads. We have seen different phases in Kashmir, including several months of street agitation in 2016, but it never impacted the export of apples like it did this time. Also, most apple farmers don’t have crop insurance. The impact of the losses will have a ripple effect on Kashmir’s economy,” Mr. Dar said.  

J&K produces around 70% of the country’s apples and remains a major exporter. Around 35 lakh families are associated with the trade in the Valley.

“The Government of India should take urgent steps to facilitate the apple trucks to reach the market. The recommendations of the Dr. Swaminathan Commission on agriculture remains mostly unimplemented. J&K, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand have been hit hard, yet apple has not been brought under the recommendations for the Minimum Support Price (MSP),” CPI(M) leader and MLA of Kulgam, M. Y. Tarigami said.

He said the apple sector is not covered by the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) launched in 2016. “There is an urgent need to reintroduce the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) so that overripe apples can be procured and used for juice and jam manufacturing. If the Government of India does not support this, the Union Territory administration must bring the scheme under the CAPEX Budget to compensate growers,” Mr. Tarigami said.

J&K’s apple production stood at 20.40 lakh tonnes in 2023-24.

Officials said a 300-metre patch in Udhampur was proving to be a major challenge for the authorities. The area has witnessed landslips and land subsidence in the past three weeks. 

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is facing criticism from his own party leaders for failure to handle the situation. “The silence of elected representatives will not be forgotten by the people. The lifeline of Kashmir’s economy was being deliberately squeezed. Every year, during harvest season, fruit trucks are stopped until the produce rots. Today again, despite official claims that the highway is open, our trucks are stranded. This is nothing short of an assault on our growers,” National Conference leader and Member of Parliament Syed Aga Ruhullah said.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti met J&K Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha and raised the issue of “prolonged closure of the vital road link has left hundreds of truckloads of apple produce stranded”. “The apple industry is the backbone of Kashmir’s economy, but poor planning and administrative apathy are pushing growers into crisis year after year,” Ms. Mufti said.

Meanwhile, CM Abdullah attended a high-level virtual meeting chaired by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to review the status of the highway.

“Blacktopping can wait. But large vehicles, especially 4-axle and 5-axle trucks, cannot be diverted through Mughal Road. This is the only route available for them, and with a huge number of trucks stranded on the Kashmir side alone, clearing this backlog is crucial,” the Chief Minister said at the meeting.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari assured the Chief Minister that his concerns would be addressed, a government spokesman said. “On my initiative, Mr. Gadkari convened a meeting, which focused on immediate steps to fully restore NH-44 for the urgent movement of fruit-laden trucks and uninterrupted supply of essentials. I also reiterated my government’s resolve to minimise hardships to commuters and farmers,” Mr. Abdullah said.