Thefts in apple orchards

A number of incidents of theft of apple boxes from orchards have been occurring these days. Thieves enter the orchards during night and lift the apple boxes.

The incidents are a cause of concern for the fruit growers and they demand an immediate halt to such incidents. If such incidents are not stopped, the fruit growers can suffer losses.

This year there is already shortage of apple production due to weather related problems. Now whatever apple production is there, it needs to be protected before it reaches the markets outside Jammu and Kashmir.

Such type of theft was not common in past but for last several years it has been noticed that it happens in orchards and the apple boxes are stolen. The apple growers cannot guard their orchards round the clock, more particularly during nights.

Such cases need to be properly investigated so that those behind such incidents are identified and booked. The fruit growers too need to be vigilant on their part and must not stock their apple boxes in sheds in the orchards and leave them for a longer period unguarded.

They too need to take care. The apple boxes must be kept at safer places. Whenever there is an incident of theft it needs to be reported to the concerned officials so that a case is registered and investigations started.

There is said to be overall rise in incidents of different kind of thefts also. While police keep on investigating the cases, identifying and arresting the culprits and recovering the stolen property in a number of cases, but there is also a need to find out the reasons behind the increasing incidents of thefts, occurring in not only in rural area but also in urban areas.

Whatever be the reasons, the problem has to be addressed at the government and non-government levels.

Whether it is unemployment or drug addiction and subsequent growing criminal tendencies among some people, these issues have to be dealt with effectively at all levels.

The parents too have to see that the young members of their families are not falling into wrong hands and indulging in criminal acts. Proper counselling is needed at family level as well as in the educational institutions, so that the youth do not go astray.