JAMMU: Parties across the political divide in J&K have welcomed the announcement on Tuesday by railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw that three proposed railway projects in the state have been put on hold for now following opposition from the state govt and MPs, who have argued that the track alignments could damage apple orchards.Vaishnaw said there was a demand for three additional railway projects in the region, but these had been kept on hold for now due to the objections raised.He did not specify the names of the projects.The governing National Conference said the halted proposals include the Bijbehara-Pahalgam railway link and the Pulwama-Shopian railway project. The issue was earlier raised by local farmers, legislators, including Anantnag-Poonch MP Mian Altaf and the opposition PDP leaders.Pahalgam legislator Altaf Kaloo and the NC spokesman Tanvir Sadiq thanked CM Omar Abdullah and MP Mian Altaf for what they described as their “timely and critical intervention” in stopping the proposed railway tracks between Bijbehara-Pahalgam and Anantnag-Shopian.“This is a vital step towards protecting people’s livelihoods, apple orchards and the fragile ecology of the region,” Kaloo said.PDP president and former CM Mehbooba Mufti said, “The decision to put the Pahalgam and Shopian railway lines on hold brings much-needed relief to Kashmir’s agrarian economy. These projects threatened to destroy scarce fertile land and push over a million rural families into uncertainty. In any future plan, farmers and local communities must be taken on board to protect Kashmir’s economy and social fabric.”CPI(M) legislator M Y Tarigami said connectivity to areas like Pahalgam and Shopian and other areas of J&K already exists through road networks and more roads are coming up. “Development is meaningless if it destroys livelihoods,” he said, hailing the railway minister for the decision to halt the projects.