With hundreds of sheep-laden trucks stuck along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for the past several days, mutton shortage has badly spoiled the ongoing wedding season.
Mutton dealers, who haven’t been able to deliver orders tocustomers, have threatened to suspend business activity from the next week ifthe traffic is not restored on the highway. The dealers said more than 250trucks laden with sheep are stuck at Udhampur. Several families have cancelledor rescheduled weddings.
“At the last moment we were informed by the mutton dealerthat he cannot deliver the sheep. It is not us only. Five to six weddings inour locality face the same fate. We have trimmed the guest list also andrestricted it to close relatives,” said Muhammad Ashraf Wugra of Kanitar,Sadrabal, whose niece is getting married on Thursday.
The Wugras on Tuesday issued a notice in a leadingnewspaper, informing the invitees that they would be now hosting an austereceremony at home.
The cancellations or announcement of low-key celebrationshave come at the last minute, when the families had distributed invitationcards and made all preparations for the weddings.
Even the mutton dealers are suffering huge losses due to thedisruption in traffic movement.
“The Valley is not self-sufficient in mutton production andour entire mutton supplies for weddings during this season completely depend onimports from other states. We will suspend trading activity from April 29 incase traffic is not restored,” said Mehraj-u-din Ganai, general secretary, AllKashmir Wholesale Mutton Dealers Association.
Ganai said retail sales of mutton have been badly hit asmost mutton shops throughout the Valley have exhausted stocks.
“The mutton industry is suffering daily losses to the tuneof Rs 1 crore. On an average, mutton dealers supply about 2000 sheep for weddings during this season,”said Ganai.
The Kashmir Economic Alliance has said the traffic situationhas put Kashmir in a state of crisis.
“Even eggs are not available in the market. What willthe people cook at weddings?” said Muhammad Yaseen Khan, chairman KEA. Khanappealed to the Governor SP Malik to personally look into the matter and pullKashmir “out of the highway crises”.
When contacted, Director Consumer Affairs and PublicDistribution (CAPD) Muhammad Qasim Wani said efforts are being made to ensurethe trucks arrive in time. ” We have strict directions from the DivisionalCommissioner Kashmir that this crisis has to be addressed immediately and weare working on it,” said Wani.