Srinagar 26 July (KNS): Calling for comprehensive compensation for apple producers who suffered damages due to incessant rains, hailstorms and cloudbursts, senior vice president of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil today urged the government to go for immediate assessment of damages to the horticulture sector.

Statement issued to Kashmir News Service reads, "The torrential rains and hailstorm caused massive damage to horticulture sector especially and apple producers have been hit the worst," said Vakil during his address to different rallies in the Rafiabad area of Baramulla.

Vakil demanded that the KCC loans to the farmers be also waived off given the losses first due to a lockdown of political nature and then subsequent Covid-19 lockdowns that hit the apple sector.

He expressed grief and concern over the massive damages caused to fruits, standing crops and loss of life due to devastating cloudbursts and windstorms that struck most parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Vakil called upon the government to depute teams to assess the losses in the affected villages so that they are compensated forthwith.

"It becomes an obligation for the government to come to the support and succour of the orchardists as they form the backbone of our economy and have always been suffering on account of weather vagaries," he said.(KNS)