HYDERABAD: Here is some mouth-watering news for all apple lovers from the city, especially those who crave for the Kashmir variety. They may soon be available for prices that would be unbelievably low compared to what they have been shelling down all these years.
This is all thanks to a 1995 vision that will be realised on Republic Day the tentative date Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Katra to Banihal rail route that connects Kashmir with the entire India, including Hyderabad.
Once it chugs off, the service is set to boost the socio–economy vibrancy of the valley, where one had to depend on road travel or flights.
It was way back in 1995 that the then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao approved the Udampur–Srinagar–Baramulla rail link at an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore. However, it was only in 2002 that the project gathered steam.
Now the project is completed and ready to be inaugurated by Modi. This railway line connecting Udampur to Baramulla, will stand as a game changer to people living in the valley.
The total cost of the railway project is put at Rs 37,000 crore.
This rail link will also boost the strategic movement of three military wings, including the special forces and para military in this region and bolster movement of heavy machinery.
This Deccan Chronicle correspondent, who travelled in the demo train service, saw from close quarters the heavy guarded police personal manning every station and all important junctions.
To most visitors and business persons, this will spell goodbye to travelling on roads with hairpin turns and hair-raising ghat roads.
It will be a major boost for the cargo sector. Rail transportation will be a safer and cheaper option apart from helping save on time.
Closer home, Hyderabad’s main fruit market at Gaddiannaram, where the four-month season ends in December, receives 10 to 15 truckloads of apples from Kashmir each day.
Secretary of the agriculture marketing committee at Gaddiannaram, L. Srinivas explained, “It takes a week for apples to arrive from Kashmir and involves an expenditure of Rs 1.8 lakh on each truck. Once the rail connectivity is established, the transportation costs will automatically slide. More importantly, we can procure more stock in one go.”
Abhishek Panwar, member f the Telangana Kirana Merchants Association and a dry fruit wholesaler at Begum Bazar, said, “Each day five kg of saffron, brought from Kashmir, costing around `two lakh per kg is sold here in this market apart from the dry fruits. If the rail service opens, transport time will be reduced and so will be the expenses in getting our orders.”
