Trucks carrying apples barely moved

Due to the landslides in Dahikhola, Gagnekhola and Mayorkhola of Karnali highway, trucks carrying apples from Jumla have moved forward after the highway was blocked.

Although the Kalikot section of the highway was opened on Sunday morning, the landslide removal work of the Dailekh section was delayed. Chetan Kumar Mandal, Chief Engineer of Road Division Office, Jumla, said that the vehicles which were stopped due to the blocking of the road highway are on their way to their destination.

According to the District Agricultural Development Office, 65 trucks carrying apples from Jumla were stopped on the road. Balakram Devkota, head of the office, said that apples worth eight crores have been stuck on the road for 5 days. According to

chief Devkot, 9 thousand metric tons of apples have been exported from Jumla this season. It is estimated that 15,000 metric tons of apples will be produced in the district this year. He said that trucks carrying apples have been requested to be operated on priority basis.

The District Disaster Management Committee is going to investigate the damage caused to apples by rotting due to landslides blocking the highway. Chief District Officer Jayakumar Ghimire said that the meeting of the

committee decided to ascertain how much damage was caused to the apples of the cargo trucks stranded on the Jumla-Surkhet road and to address the damaged apples by the Agricultural Development Office Jumla and submit a report with suggestions.