Amid a widespread outcry in Kashmir over apple-laden trucks left stranded on Srinagar-Jammu Highway, the Jammu & Kashmir Government has transferred and attached Senior Superintendent of Police, Traffic, National Highway, Shabir Ahmad Malik with J&K police headquarters.
The government order reads: “In the interest of administration, Shri Shabir Ahmed Malik, SSP Traffic, NHW, is hereby transferred and attached with the Police Headquarters, J&K, with immediate effect. Ms. Mohita Sharma, IPS, SP Ramban, shall hold the additional charge of the said post, till further orders.”
Official sources said due to alleged traffic mismanagement on Srinagar-Jammu Highway, the government has transferred SSP, Traffic, and attached him with the police headquarters J&K.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole late on Tuesday night said that almost all Jammu-bound trucks were cleared and normal traffic on National Highway has been restored.
The divisional administration made tremendous efforts to ensure that all the stranded trucks move towards Jammu.
The Divisional Commissioner said that yesterday, more than 4,000 trucks were cleared through NH 44, while today 1,250 vehicles were sent through Mughal Road to the Jammu side. He added that normal traffic on the National Highway has been restored.
Pole said that the government is promoting horticulture and asserted that high-density apple plantation is gaining momentum.
While sharing information, he said that during the last four years, more than 10,000 kanals of land have been used for high-density plantations.
In this regard, with 50 per cent subsidy, 350 nurseries have been registered which have a capacity of growing 10 lakh saplings per year, he added.
In order to check the quality of pesticides and fertilizers, labs were established by the government, besides soil testing lab at Shopian was started to minimise production costs.
Moreover, the divisional commissioner said that with subsidy grants from the Central government, cold storages having two lakh tonne capacity were recently created.
Also, in order to ensure minimum assured prices for apples, procurement through NAFED was done for two years, he stated.
He underlined that all these concrete, supportive steps have resulted in the increase in apple production. As a result, this year, Kashmir is poised to break all records of apple production which may touch 21 lakh metric tonne.
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