Srinagar- The valley based apple growers on Wednesday claimed that Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha has assured them to take up the issue of 20 percent slash in the import tariff on the apples imported from United States, with the government of India.
The distressed growers urged the government to implement a market intervention scheme (MIS) in J&K so that the C category apples from Kashmir are sold at competitive prices. They said the unexpected weather conditions, such as hailstorm and a prolonged dry spell, have already classified Kashmiri apples in the C category.
Addressing a press conference here after meeting J&K LG Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhawan, President, Apple Farmers of J&K, Zahoor Ahmad said they presented a memorandum to the LG and urged him to get the additional 20 percent retaliatory import duty on apples imported from US re-imposed.
“We presented a memorandum to the J&K LG during our meeting with him at the Raj Bhawan and would like to extend our gratitude to the latter for giving us a patient hearing and assuring us that demands highlighted in the memorandum will be discussed at the federal level,” he said.
Ahmad said the delegation also appealed to the LG to introduce a market intervention scheme in J&K so that the farmers are not forced to make distress sales of their produce and that the perishable horticulture commodities in the event of fall in market prices are purchased by the government.
Besides, he said, the delegation requested the LG to restore shuttered processing units in J&K so that the farmers avail maximum benefits out of such facilities, while expansion of cold apple cold storages was also brought into the notice of the LG.
“We also discussed the issue of overcharging by transporters and urged him to limit transportation costs so that the farmers could ship their goods to any location in India and sell them at good prices,” he added.
Besides, he said the LG was also apprised about the drought conditions of J&K, which he said has incurred huge losses to the horticulture industry.
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