Valley Apples

Fruit Growers Welcome Move

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Fruit growers in Kashmir welcomed the launch of a trial parcel train service carrying apples to Delhi, saying it will cut travel time nearly in half and save produce from rotting due to frequent highway closures.

Varun Mital from Fine Valley Agri Farms, whose consignment was among the first dispatched on Thursday said that the initiative has come at a critical time. “Earlier, sending fruit to Delhi used to take around 36 hours. Now the same work will be done in just 20 hours. This will directly improve the quality of fruit reaching the markets,” he said.

He noted that the continued closure of National Highway-44 had badly affected growers. “The highway, considered the lifeline of Kashmir, has remained shut for 14 days. We lost 30-60 percent of our produce in trucks that got stranded. In plums, we faced a 100 percent loss, and in pears nearly 70 percent,” he said.

According to Mital, Thursday's trial included two cargo coaches carrying about 3,000 apple boxes—around 36 tons. Each railway container, he added, can carry up to 23 tons of fruit. “Today, two of our trucks with 1,500 boxes each were loaded. In future, the number of trains and cargoes will increase, with proper scanning and other facilities in place,” he said.