Srinagar, March 19:(KNS) Srinagar, Jan 24: Senior vice president People’s Conference (PC) and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil slammed the central government for neglecting fruit growers in the recent budget for Jammu and Kashmir.
Terming it unfortunate, Vakil said Kashmir’s economy is on the verge of collapse as horticulture sector has been neglected over the past several years due to back to back shutdowns and covid19 pandemic.
Addressing a delegation of fruit growers at Srinagar, he said apple industry is considered the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir economy and is estimated at Rs 8,000 crore with 22 lakh metric ton production each year. Growers are being sidelined due to the wrong policies of the government, he said.
On Wednesday, the central government proposed Rs 1.08 lakh crore budgets for the region for the 2021-22 fiscal. In which Agriculture and Horticulture sectors have been allocated around Rs.2,008 crore for the financial year. The low budget was aimed to divert issues from the core i
‘The budget is anti-people and has neglected the middle-class income families and labor class. Most of the apple growers have faced financial problems from the past several years,” he said.
“Lofty claims of Naya Kashmir were made by the central government after the abrogation of Article 370 but things have remained unchanged on the ground. There are no jobs for our youth, petrol and diesel prices are touching skies. There is no one who can speak on these issues faced by common people,” he said.
“They had promised jobs, development and even apple growers are not getting good rates to their crop as policies are being framed without accessing the ground situation,” the senior leader said.
Vakil said Kashmir had witnessed a massive drop in apple production by 40-45 percent last year due to the use of substandard pesticides, fertilizers. There was a complete failure of government in checking the quality of the fertilizers, pesticides, he said.
The senior PC leader stressed subsidization on fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, horticultural equipment and other things for the apple growers by horticulture as they have suffered badly due to the prevailing situation.(KNS)