LG, CM, Union Minister laud initiative

Jammu, Sep 11: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and Union Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh have lauded the initiative of Indian Railways to operate daily parcel trains from Budgam to New Delhi.

They extended gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

“The daily parcel train from Budgam to New Delhi will bring huge relief to apple growers. My deepest gratitude to Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji and Hon’ble Union Minister for Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw Ji,” Office of LG J&K posted on ‘X’.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, while thanking the Railway Minister, pointed out that it took around a week to reach a moment of reprieve, and his “calls and endless messages” finally bore fruit for the growers of J&K.

“It took about a week of close coordination between the railway ministry officials & officers in my secretariat with inputs from the J&K Agriculture Production Department to get to the point where our harvested fruit is now being transported by train. With the National Highway continuing to give us trouble, this has become a source of great relief for growers whose produce risked rotting because it wasn’t reaching the market. My thanks to @AshwiniVaishnaw Sb for responding to my calls & endless messages to get to this off the ground,” CM Omar posted on ‘X’.

Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh, in a post on Facebook with a tagline “Jammu And Kashmir Update,” shared that the landmark move would facilitate the fruit growers and traders to transport stranded perishable fruit in the wake of disturbed road connectivity.

“In a landmark first, today 2 VPs (parcel vans) being loaded by railways ex Budgam carrying apple for the first time ever. Destination - Jammu and Adarshnagar Delhi. The move has been taken by the Railways to facilitate the stranded perishable fruit in wake of disturbed road connectivity to facilitate traders/fruit growers/farmers etc,” he posted.