Srinagar, Aug 10: Members of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Buyers’ Union, Sopore alleged that they have been duped by five traders on the other side of LoC who despite “receiving supplies from us have not sent anything in return.”
 “When the cross LoC trade was initiated in 2008, we exported 33 truckloads of fresh fruit from the Sopore Mandi to five traders in Muzaffarabad. But till now we haven’t received anything in return against the supplies, from the other side,” Haji Farooq Ahmad, President KVFBU said.
 “We tried to contact the traders, but in vain. The officials too are not providing us visas to visit that part of Kashmir so that we can trace them,” Ahmad said, adding that the barriers in cross LoC trade were making it difficult from them to get hold of the traders who have “duped” them. 
 Ahmad said the traders on the other side of Kashmir had left them high and dry. “Since 2008 we have boycotted the LoC trade, as it is virtually a trap, where you don’t know whom you are sending your consignments and there is no certainty whether the trader will get returns for his items or not.”
 Ahmad castigated the Joint Chamber of LoC Traders, saying: “The members of this chamber just promote their own businesses and do not care for the overall development of cross LoC trade.”
 General Secretary of the union said: “In 2008 I along with my colleagues was told by a delegation of PaK traders who had arrived at that time to send fresh fruits to them. They gave us their names and contact numbers. In the first week of August we exported 14 truckloads of vegetables. Thereafter, they asked for another 19 truckloads and we sent to them.”
  “The total value of the consignments sent comes around Rs 16 lakh. We haven’t received anything from them, even we are not able to trace the traders who have duped us,” he said, adding that they also informed the traders of PaK who were recently on a visit here, about the incident.
 “We gave them the names of traders who have cheated us, but we were informed by the delegation members that those traders have left the LoC trade and are doing different business and some have even fled from their place,” he said.
 Meanwhile, the Union members said that they won’t participate in the cross LoC trade until they get returns/payment for their 2008 supplies to other side.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 11 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST