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| Sorry sportsmanship: J&K’s willow finds easy pitch in Jallandhar, Meerut | | |
CHAMAN KAUL
JAMMU: Large scale smuggling of superior class willow cleft from Lakhanpur has yielded sleepless nights for the local sports industry unit owners for the last couple of years. Not only in terms of getting good stuff of willow cleft meant for manufacturing high class cricket bats but also to find customers of their produce on reasonable rates in and outside the state.
Two truckloads a day approximately, 5000 to 6000 pieces in a truck load near about Rs 5 crore a month is the outcome of prevailing scenario for the last three-four years sources informed and added that about 1.5 Lakh pieces of willow cleft are being smuggled with a freight of about rupees two lakh per truck load.
If the above received data is to be believed the local sports units have no role to play in promoting the sports products like cricket bats and allied items. Government on the one hand is desperate to reshape the industrial sector on the whole but on the other hand is apparently still by not taking cognizance of the prevailing situation at the Lakhanpur toll post.
“It is nexus between the government machinery and four to five people from Kashmir and Lakhanpur who in the name of so called sports industry at Kathua are smuggling willow cleft, said an sports industrialist at Gangyal. He said that local industry is dead for the last three years due to menace of smuggling of the willow cleft.
He added that Meerut and Jhalandhar are two places where high class cricket bats are being manufactured with the smuggled material from Jammu and Kashmir through Lakhanpur tool post. He asked how come is this possible with out the nexus, whatsoever, may be the matrix, it is the local sports industry which has suffered a lot despite raising hue and cry at every concerned power corridor.
“Industrial Association has already submitted memorandums to government but this year repeated request has been made to Finance Minister in a memorandum which was forwarded for pre-budget considerations demanded by the ministry” said industrialist Jagdish Langer of Champion Sports Industries and added that his unit is almost closed for the last four years. Not only this but diverting the willow logs to other forest based industry like ply-board adds salt to the wounds of sports industrialists by creating shortage of the raw material, Langer further said and added that it is a matter of unrest for the industrialists as thousands of workers are becoming jobless with the closure of sports industry in the state. He said that government at least should come forward to stop the diversion of willow cleft to other forest based industry.
Official sources revealed that export of willow cleft is banned by the government for the last several years and the sale of the same is only possible if Forest department issues no objection certificate to a dealer. However, sources did not ruled out the process of smuggling by saying that illegally any thing could be transported from here to there and vica-versa.
Industrialists have all eyes on the coming budget as Minister of Finance have given assurances to them for addressing their all legitimate issue and in the implementation of resolution brought in the House during last Assembly session, an office bearer of Association of Small Scale Industries expressed hopefully.
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