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United News of India

J&K to prioritise movement of perishable goods on Srinagar Jammu highway during Yatra

Srinagar, July 2 (UNI) To ensure smooth movement of fruit and vegetable trucks during the Amarnath Yatra, the J&K administration has directed the Traffic Police to identify a five-kilometre stretch near the Navyug Tunnel for dedicated parking of such vehicles, enabling their priority passage along the Srinagar-Jammu highway. An advisory issued by the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir said agriculture and horticulture sectors are critically important for the economy of J&K and the Union Territory administration is fully committed to facilitate the growers and extend every possible assistance in marketing the produce. The advisory said that Srinagar Jammu national highway (NH-44) being the lifeline of J&K, has an important role to play in this regard. 'Use of NH-44, by different class of users, is largely governed by the advisory issued by Traffic Police, which tries to accommodate every stakeholder. However, it has been reported that in view of the forthcoming SANJY (Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra)- 2025, onset of fresh fruit season, convey movement and the condition of NH-44, sufficient time slot is not getting allotted to this very important sector and as a result, downside movement of trucks carrying perishable goods is being hampered due to which the fruit growers/traders are facing inconvenience,' the advisory read. In order to address the concerns of fruit growers, the UT administration has decided that the vehicles or buses ferrying Yatris shall be given first preference for their hassle free movement along NH-44, followed by, vehicles carrying fruits and vegetables. 'Traffic Police should identify a stretch of about 05 Kms along NH-44, between Levdoora to Navyug Tunnel, which should be dedicated for parking of fruit/vegetable laden vehicles, so that their movement could be facilitated on priority. Other HMVs waiting to be released for their onward movement towards Jammu should be allowed to get parked only after Levdoora,' the advisory read. It added that fruit and vegetable growers are requested to load and timely park their vehicles, every morning before 9:00 AM at the designated place, so that traffic police could easily identify the vehicles and release them once SANJY related daily movement is over. The Divisional Commissioner asked the Department of Agriculture Production to frame and issue instructions to all the fruit and vegetable growers to paste plycards, hoarding or banner mentioning the item and the source of origin, so that fruit and vegetable laden vehicles are distinguished and their movement is accordingly facilitated 'Trucks carrying perishable goods will also be facilitated through Jawahar Tunnel or Mughal Road if they desire so,' the advisory said. The administration also directed that certain categories of vehicles returning to Jammu must exclusively use the Mughal Road between 7:00 AM and 6:00 PM, starting July 2. The advisory applies to petrol, diesel, and LPG tankers, trucks carrying empty LPG cylinders, empty Food Corporation of India (FCI) vehicles, and all other loaded or empty vehicles up to 10 tyres. This regulation will remain in force until the conclusion of the yatra. UNI MJR SSP