OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
The region which was seeking help of government for ensuring days without strikes and terror attacks is now witnessing colossal development with each passing day registering new initiatives by the incumbent government to improve the condition of people on various counts. This drastic change has come after the daring decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on making contentious Article 370 of the Constitution of India null and void on the historic date of August 5, 2019. The changes observed in the Union Territory of J&K after the aforesaid are path breaking and have changed the course of life of people making things convenient and providing opportunities with a guarantee for good fortune. In the same context, Kashmir has been gifted with much sought after Cold Storage facility having capacity of over 550 metric tons at Agri Complex, Lal Mandi in Srinagar giving full advantage to orchardists and vegetable growers for conserving the perishable items (Kachha Maal) for months together and sending the same to the markets at the appropriate time to have maximum benefit. The farmers and other associated members dealing with agriculture produce must be happy with the new facility as they can now earn handsome amount by storing things upto the time when the demand will increase giving good output and fair chance to get justice as in absence of such facilities the farmers had to go for panic sale of their produce, giving them little profit and at times even losses were the fate of year’s toil. What is more exciting about this cold storage facility is the fact that services are being provided at nominal charges with no risk of produce getting spoiled or becoming fetid. The cold storage facility which is likely to be doubled in coming years would aid farmers to preserve their perishable produce and prevent wastage and losses. The cold store facility will help in preserving perishable items and farmers’ produce like fruits and vegetables and eventually increase shelf life due to which farmers can fetch good prices and subsequently increase their income. With the addition of such a big capacity cold storage facility the farmers are the most satisfied lot because earlier they have to suffer big losses on account of wastage of produce as they have no place to take refuge. This initiative of the government will go a long way in overcoming the challenge of increasing the income of farmers through saving their produce in a big way.