Shopian, Aug 9: Devoid of basic facilities, fruit traders, growers at Shopian’s fruit mandi are facing a plethora of problems.
According to the traders, nearly a dozen recently constructed washrooms have been without water for the past many months.
“Due to the lack of water facility, all the washrooms are rendered unusable”, said Peerzada Shabir, a trader.
Shopian is an apple rich district and the fruit industry in the area witnesses an annual turnover of nearly Rs 1000 crore.
The Mandi had been operating in Arhama village since its inception in early 2000, but the facility was moved to the Aglar area, some 5 kms from Shopian town, last year. The idea was to make a spacious facility with state of the art facilities.
Sprawled over 290 kanals of land, the facility has been devoid of a macadamized road.
“Dust envelops the entire area during peak harvest season as hundreds of fruit laden trucks enter the facility on a daily basis,” said Javed Ahmad, another trader.
He said that their health had been badly affected due the inhalation of dust rising from the dilapidated roads leading to the facility.
As many as 500 traders dealing in different fruits transact their business in the area.
“The Mandi has been constructed on the bank of Rambiara nallah and there always remains a threat of floods. We have requested many times for authorities to erect a compound wall but to no avail”, said Shabir.Ahmad, a trader.
An official said that the macadamisation work would be taken up soon. “We have tendered out the work and the execution will take place in a few days” he said.