Chief Secretary assesses measures taken for promotion of Pashmina trade

SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, on Tuesday chaired a meeting of stakeholders to promote the Pashmina trade here in J&K.

The meeting, besides Commissioner Secretary Industries & Commerce, was attended by Director Handicrafts & Handloom Kashmir; other concerned officers and private players belonging into this trade.

At the outset of the meeting, the Chief Secretary enquired about different measures taken by the Department to promote this significant sector of handicrafts here in J&K. He observed that this craft has a very high potential and if tapped optimally can bring employment and substantial revenue to both the craftsmen and those associated with the trade.

Dulloo also underscored the need for taking steps to restrict the marketing of counterfeit items on the name of Pashmina. He stressed on marking genuine Pashmina products with GI tags so that there is no difficultly in identification of the same. He asked for employing modern technology for achieving the desired results along with augmenting the testing capacity of labs for slashing the waiting time considerably.

In his presentation the Director, Handicrafts & Handloom, Kashmir, Mehmood Shah enumerated different achievements of the Department registered during the past weeks in reviving Pashmina sector and giving it a big push to grow here.

It was revealed that the Department had succeeded in getting the sanction of Rs 5 Cr for establishment of Common Facility Centre (CFC) for Pashmina artisans here at Srinagar. In addition to that Rs 2 Cr had been secured for establishment of Pashmina Bank for round the year availability of raw material and 51 lakhs for the establishment of wool bank for creating a hub for efficient and quality wool processing in the valley.

Moreover it was given out that the Departmental committees has worked out the rates for procurement of Pashmina and Wool also which is going to enable the process of procurement for its further processing and manufacture of finished goods at the hands of artisans here.

Furthermore the Department featured several measures in progress that are going to rejuvenate this sector much beyond its present status. It was added that the Department has framed an action plan to be submitted for large scale development of this sector in J&K.

It was added that the plan includes establishment of more Raw Material Banks, de-hairing centres and Advanced Testing Labs of Higher Capacity besides using QR codes for identification of Genuine Products, better marketing and packaging avenues and participation in national and international trade fairs providing direct benefit to the craftsmen associated with this trade.