Expelled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MP Nazir Ahmad Laway on Monday wrote a letter to the Union Agriculture Minister seeking his intervention for assessing the damage caused to the apple crop following the recent untimely snowfall and for compensating the farmers who faced losses.
"I urge you to intervene and direct Kashmir administration to swiftly assess the damage and compensate the losses to farmers," Laway said in the letter.
He said that the recent "untimely snowfall" in Kashmir valley has caused huge damage to both crops and trees in the region adding that some estimates are putting the losses suffered by Kashmiri apple farmers at over Rs 5 billion.
"Kashmir valley saw an untimely heavy snowfall on November 3, which caused huge damages to apple growers. Apple growers were the hardest hit as the snowfall didn't only damage the apple crop, but also the branches of apple trees laden with fruits," the MP said.
Laway said that the snowfall has also disrupted the transportation of Kashmiri apples to other states as the national highway continues to remain blocked.
"Despite untimely snowfall wreaking havoc with the apple crop several times in recent years and frequent droughts and erratic rainfall causing damage to apple crop, the government has failed to implement the restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS)," he added.
Laway, a Rajya Sabha MP, was expelled from the PDP on November 1 for attending the swearing-in ceremony of newly-appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Girish Chandra Murmu.
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