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Truckers stuck at Kashmir’s Sopore fruit mandi with nowhere to go & nothing to do

Drivers from various states say they haven’t been able to contact their families for over 2 weeks, but leaving empty-handed would cost them Rs 50,000 each.

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Sopore: Lying on a makeshift bed inside his truck parked at Sopore Mandi in north Kashmir, Jasbir Singh contemplates if he should leave for Amritsar.

He tries to convince another truck driver from Rajasthan, but fails. The two then make some calculations, count the money in their pockets, and decide to stay on for another two days.

Drivers from Punjab, Rajasthan, UP and Haryana, who reached Kashmir in the last one month, have been stuck here ever since. They have no place to stay, no way to communicate with their families, and very little money.

Drivers from differen states have been stuck in Sopore for almost 15 days with very limited resources | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Sopore Mandi is Asia’s largest wholesale fruit market, but hundreds of trucks currently stand idle inside it. In the aftermath of the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the business of these trucks — which transport fruits, especially apples, from Kashmir to other states — has been severely hit.

“The farmers are not getting their produce to the mandi. Even if some people are coming with the produce, they are not loading our trucks. So, how do we move out?” Jasbir Singh said.

“We have been stuck here for almost 15 days now. Every day, I feel like leaving from here and going back to Amritsar, but going with an empty truck would mean a loss Rs 40,000-50,000. I think about that and stop, hoping that the situation may improve.”

The drivers earn around Rs 50,000 from each trip, and get the cost of diesel separately. From the money they earn, they pay the instalments for their trucks, their insurance and permit cost.

“If we take the truck back empty, we do not earn anything. In fact, we will have to pay for the diesel from our own pocket and also for the permit. We have already wasted 15 days here, half the month is gone. We have been spending almost Rs 250-500 every day just on food. Now, if we go back empty, it would mean no money this month,” said Kulveer Singh from Patiala.


Also read: How Kashmir’s getting by — dark humour, scars of a missed Eid & apples sold for a pittance


Days spent in hope

The drivers wake up at 5 o’clock each morning, hoping that the mandi will open and the farmers will bring their produce.

What gives them hope is the fact that some trucks from Delhi and Punjab did leave with apples in the last week when the mandi was open. But it was shut again, for reasons unknown to them.

A truck driver, stuck in Sopore’s fruit mandi | Praveen Jain | ThePrint |

“Six days ago, a few trucks left the mandi. The labourers were packing the apples and loading them, but there was a call to shut the mandi and it again became dead,” said Raju, a driver from Bihar. “Those drivers were lucky to have got work.”

With no work, no network on their phones and nowhere to go, the drivers spend their day talking to each other about their families, some even singing songs.

“I have heard so many stories of his son and wife, it feels I have known his family for ages,” Om Prakash from Barmer said, laughing and pointing at the man next to him.

“This has happened for the first time that we have not spoken to our families in 15 days. There is no network on our phones, they (family) must be thinking we are dead,” he said with another laugh.

Mohammad Rashid from Saharanpur, UP, said he had identified the singers among the drivers.

“We are used to being on the move. Getting stuck here in a parking lot, we all get very restless. We take a round of the mandi, but for how long can you move around in the same space? We have now started holding sessions where some of us sing and pass the time,” he said.

Fear of trucks being set afire

Jaiveer from UP has been trying to figure out what has happened in Kashmir that has locked them up inside the mandi, but has not found an answer yet.

“All I am told is that ‘haalaat kharab hai’ (the situation is bad). ‘Truck jala rahe hain’ (They’re burning trucks). ‘Transport karoge toh goli mar denge’ (You will be shot if you transport fruit),” he said.

“No one tells me what has happened. What has the government done? Why are the phones off? What is this Article 370 that they keep mentioning” he asked this reporter.

In their curiosity, these drivers from different states have also tried to interact with the Kashmiri labourers who work as loaders and packers at the mandi, but have not found answers.

“They say that the militants will kill us if we work during a hartal (strike). They say the government has done something which has enraged them,” Jaiveer said.

Drivers lying on a makeshift bed inside their trucks | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

“Whatever the government has done, the decision has severely impacted our business. Not just us, but these poor labourers, local Kashmiris too have been suffering. Today, we heard that the militants shot three people including a 2-year-old girl, so how can we operate in such conditions?” he said. “We will see for a few more days and then leave, even if it means incurring massive losses.”


Also read: Kashmir clampdown is driving up apple prices, you could soon be paying Rs 200-250/kg


 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. The idea is to integrate these people, not to destroy them.
    This is like some medieval siege we starve and impoverish them into submission.
    Not selling the Apple crop, keeping the shops shut, may be self inflicted BUT these people have no other means of protest.
    In colonial times cotton weavers were paid wages so low that they cut their own thumbs (so they may not operate the loom) in order to be released from bondage. This was also self inflicted.
    With army and police everywhere, communications cut, imagine the trauma of the ordinary citizen at this collective punishment.
    Nationalism is an abstract concept an imaginary sense of greatness, but humanity and suffering is real.
    Let us as Indians living outside Kashmir be less nationalistic and more humane.
    Humanity and love for each other strengthens us collectively as a people against all adversaries and problems. Not abstract concepts like nationalism which with patriotism is used by power grabbing scoundrels to brainwash us.

  2. The truckers could be in for a long wait. Sunday was reportedly the toughest day in Srinagar, in terms of restrictions, since 5th August. Journalists, including women, are facing a lot of hardships and stress in doing their jobs. 2. Pakistan’s perfidies and proclivities are a known known. It should not be placed on a pedestal, allowed to dictate internal developments in Kashmir.

  3. The people of Kashmir will sacrifice their Apple crop, tighten their belts and survive on one meal a day, what does it matter to them, if they lose a year’s income. After all these are abnormal conditions akin to war.
    In war people even lose their lives.
    But this sacrifice will be remembered and will unite the people.
    I suggest the Indian Government buy the entire crop on the trees. The Kashmiri farmer will not harvest his own crop which will fall to the ground soon and rot.
    The money should be distributed to farmers per acreage of their Apple plantations.
    This will go a long way in lessening the impact of widespread resentment and help the economy.
    Food distribution should also commence, the CRPF trucks should leave food grains at collection points to prevent starvation.
    THIS IS THE 35th DAY OF LOCKDOWN

  4. Heart rending. Demonetisation had come between harvest of the Kharif and sowing of the Rabi crop. On both occasions, with money scarce, farmers were devastated. The politics of 370 and UT status one does not understand. This is the rozi roti of many Kashmiris, as is tourism. Thought should have been given to livelihood issues, how the least well off people would be affected by these changes. Before we set out to do great good, we should make sure that we do no harm.

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