Srinagar, Sep 15 (IANS) J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said that if the Central government cannot maintain the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, it should hand over its maintenance to the UT government.

“Enough is enough”, a disgruntled Abdullah told reporters here, expressing his concern over the continuing blockage of this highway that has resulted in the loss of crores of rupees to apple growers & traders in the Kashmir Valley due to rotting of the loaded fruit in trucks stranded for days without finding passage to carry the goods outside.

The Jammu-Srinagar highway is maintained at present by the Centre.

“If they (the Centre) cannot maintain it, they should hand it over to us. I will deploy a team of engineers who are currently available here,” he said.

CM Abdullah said the Centre had failed to make the road fully functional. “Enough is enough. We have been patient because they kept assuring us daily that restoration work would be done, but it didn’t happen,” he said.

He said that he will take up the matter of restoration of the highway with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.

“I will speak today with Union Minister for Highways, Gadkari Ji and request that the highway be handed over to us and restored for truck movement,” he said.

On the first parcel train flagged off by LG Manoj Sinha from Budgam railway station to Adarsh Nagar in Delhi, the CM said that running just one train is not enough.

“I would request the Railway Minister that one train is not sufficient. We are thankful to you for starting the train service. It should be operated on a regular basis so that fruit growers have the option to transport apples either by train or by road.”

All the fruit mandis in Kashmir, including those in Sopore, Kupwara, Handwara, Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag and others, remained shut on Monday as part of a two-day shutdown called for September 14 and 15.

Earlier, the fruit growers’ association reported that hundreds of trucks carrying perishable fruit consignments remain stranded on the highway and have not been allowed to proceed to their destinations, resulting in massive damage and heavy losses.

–IANS

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