Source: India Today’s Aajtak Hindi TV channel
JAMMU, INDIA, October 14, 2001: Jammu Correspondent of Aajtak Channel interviewed Jyoti Gupta, secretary of Dry Fruit Traders Association of Jammu who said that due to non-arrival of dry fruit items from Afghanistan after the war has begun there is acute shortage of many dryfruit items. The devotees visiting Vaishno Devi Shrine are buying these dry fruits as prasad (food offered to and blessed by the Deity) in lesser quantity than during normalcy in the past at this point of time. Traders are selling their stock at a high price as the supply is not forthcoming. Gupta said that the situation will worsen if the supply does not return to normal, and the prices are likely to go up in the near future. Some of the items used for prasad are already up by 50 percent, the story said.