Central government bent on ruining Himachal’s apple growers: Bhandari
Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress President Nigam Bhandari has said that the Central Government is bent upon ruining the apple orchards of Himachal Pradesh by continuously reducing the import duty. He said that due to reduction in import duty, import of foreign apples is increasing, due to which the existence of Himachali apple is in danger. He said that the economic value of apple in Himachal Pradesh is more than Rs 5000 crore and lakhs of families are directly and indirectly associated with this business. Farmers are continuously demanding to increase the import duty to 100%, but the central government is continuously reducing it, which is unfortunate.
Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress said that this time due to cheap foreign apples, the gardeners keeping apples in cold stores are also facing losses. He said that due to foreign apples, gardeners using cold stores have suffered a loss of Rs 800-1200 per box. He said that apple imports from countries like America, Iran, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil are increasing. Since South Asia is a free trade zone, Iranian apples are reaching India via Afghanistan without paying duty. In such a situation, due to Iranian apples reaching India at low cost, Himachali apples are not able to survive and are not able to get good prices. He said that if the Central Government does not pay attention to this, the apple economy of Himachal will be completely ruined and lakhs of people associated with this business will be ruined.
Nigam Bhandari said that during the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to increase the import duty on foreign apples and add 5 percent apple concentrate in all types of cold drinks. But, on the contrary, the Central Government has reduced the import duty on foreign apples, due to which the demand for Himachal’s apples is decreasing and the gardeners are facing losses. He said that on one hand the Prime Minister talks about Vocal for Local, while on the other hand it is not being implemented on the ground, rather the work is being done to break the backs of Himachali apple growers by promoting foreign apples. Bhandari said that more than 5 lakh gardeners in Himachal Pradesh are directly involved in apple gardening and every year the state generates a business of Rs 5 thousand crore from the production of about 4 crore apple boxes. In such a situation, reducing the import duty of apple is not in the interest of these five lakh families of Himachal Pradesh.
