OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: Apple farmers and political activists in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) protested on Wednesday against the union government’s decision to remove an additional 20% duty on the fruit imported from the US saying cheaper American apples will hurt local growers.

The decision to remove the additional duty was one of six World Trade Organisation disputes India and the US resolved when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington in June but it was implemented only last week.

India had imposed the additional 20% customs duty on apples from the US in 2019, on top of an existing 50% duty, as a retaliatory measure for Washington increasing tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium products.

“We appeal to the government to reconsider the decision,” Bashir Ahmad, president of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers and Dealers Union, said at the rally involving dozens of protesters in occupied Srinagar. Lowering the tax will hurt the livelihoods of more than 3 million people who depend on the $1.2 billion apple industry in IIOJK, he told Reuters.

“We are already suffering due to imported apples and were urging the government to raise import duties to support local growers, but they have done the opposite,” he said, adding that the industry had already suffered a 40% loss this year due to bad weather.

The Himalayan territory of IIOJK produced 1.7 million tonnes of apples in the fiscal year 2021-22, accounting for more than two-thirds of India’s output, government data showed.