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J&K faces risk of Rs 2000-Cr loss due to highway restrictions: Masoodi

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 7/18/2019 12:17:22 PM

SRINAGAR, July 17: National Conference Member Parliament from Anantnag Hasnain Masoodi today said that J&K is at the risk of facing immense losses due to highway restrictions.
According to a statement, Masoodi while raising the issue of reckless highway restrictions in the parliament said that the state faced the risk of Rs 2000 crore loss due to highway restrictions.
While replying to the demand for grants on agriculture and farmers welfare, Masoodi said, “With the cold storage capacity of five percent of total produce and 1 percent commercial processing, the fresh fruit produced in the current season will rot unless immediately transported to fruit markets within and outside country. I therefore call for lifting of restrictions to facilitate fruit export."
Masoodi reminded the central government that 3.5 million people were dependent on 2.5 million MT fruit industry and their interests could not be jeopardized. He also lamented over negligence of government towards removing the bottle necks for increased production of saffron in the state. “The most important cash crop of the State that would earn millions in foreign exchange presents a tale of government’s apathy and failure of PM saffron mission.”
Referring to the union budget 2019-2020 as anti-farmer Masoodi said, “With little relief to the 22 crore farmers; combining PM Kissan Saman Yujna with the budgetary demands helps the government to conceal the downslide in budgetary allocations for Agriculture and farmer welfare. The benefit under Saman is to elude 55 percent of the farmers as the benefit is linked to land and 55 percent of the framers are landless.”
Masoodi also put government in a spot on 3.7 percent decrease in allocation to ICAR and restricting allocation to research to mere 0.3 percent. “Such allocation is more than 1 percent in case of Brazil and Mexico,” he said in his reply.
He also underscored various discrepancies in Kisan Bima Yojna stating, “The benefit does not reach the insured as a farmer in case of crop failure is to prove that crop of entire taluka had failed or was destroyed, with 67 percent of farmers with less than a hectare, bulk of the farmers are left at the mercy of money lenders prone to exploitation, without an efficient and humane lending mechanism.”