J&K bars non-local truckers

SRINAGAR: The killing of non-local labourers and fruit traders has prompted the J&K administration to stop the entry of ‘outsider trucks’ into Shopian district on Sunday, temporarily halting apple transportation.

During the harvest season, Shopian needs over 7,000 trucks to transport apples outside the Valley. The district has just over 250 trucks of its own. Majority of the truckers have been coming from outside for decades now.

The administration has reiterated that no non-local trucker would be allowed into the district for loading the apple crop, for now. The officials, after a meeting with all the stakeholders in Shopian on Saturday, asked fruit traders and orchard-owners to transport the apple boxes to four designated spots on the highway, where they can load the trucks to transport the apples outside J&K.