SRINAGAR: J&KGovernment is keen towards promotion of cricket bat industry of Kashmirenabling the Kashmir willow cricket bat to become a world class product.
In order to reviveKashmir’s cricket bat manufacturing and other wood-based industry, a team ofUnion Ministry of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises officials had alsovisited valley to find ways for extending support.
In this direction CommonFacility Centre, Sethar was established at an estimated cost of Rs 4.61 crorewith plant and machinery installed by PPDC, Meerut incurring an expenditure ofRs 2.46 crore.
The objective of this CFCis to facilitate seasoning of willow clefts and provide all facilities to theCricket Bat Unit holders under one roof. This will enable the unit holders touse modern techniques in production of world class cricket bats.
There are seven villages –Bijbehara, Charsoo, Hallamullaha, Sangam, Pujteng, Mirzapor and Sethar – inSouth Kashmir where cricket bats are manufactured, providing bread and butterto hundreds of villagers. Moreover Sethar Sangam in Anantnag has been notifiedas an industrial cluster for cricket bat manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Government hasalso given registration certificates to bat manufacturing unit owners ofAnantnag and Pulwama, which would enable them to avail all benefits from thegovernment, aimed at strengthening the industry.
A team of officials fromMeerut-based Process-cum-Product Development Centre (PPDC) also visited thevalley to explore ways for hand-holding of MSMEs in wood-based industry’. Theteam visited cricket bat cluster in Sethar village at Sangam area of Anantnagdistrict to assess how the bat industry there could be revived. This clusterhas been earlier funded by the Union MSME Ministry and now they are keen toprovide an impetus to the cluster.
Pertinent to mention herethat Kashmir willows are famous for their quality across the world and havegained huge attention from the cricketers. A study on sports goods titled‘Indian Sports Goods Industry: Strategies for Tapping the Export Potential’conducted by the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM BANK) says that Kashmirwillow bat is one such product, which holds significance as it is made fromsome of the best quality wood (willow) in the world.
The Government is creatingawareness and provides handholding amongst the bat makers with regard to GItagging through field officers. The Directorate of Industries and Commerce hastaken up the issue of granting Logo and GI tagging with the Director, CraftDevelopment Institute (CDI), Srinagar.
Presently there are morethan 400 cricket bat manufacturing units generating employment to about 8000people directly, said an official. It was also revealed that Under the WorldBank-funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP), Faculty of ForestrySKUAST Kashmir has been engaged for the identification and propagation of thebest quality willow (Salix Alba varcaerulea) being used for the manufacture ofcricket bat. In SKUAST Kashmir, superior quality willow saplings weredistributed for the manufacture of cricket bats among the beneficiariesassociated with Sethar cricket bat cluster.
He added that it isexpected that with the use of superior willow the quality of cricket bats beingmanufactured in the Valley would be comparable to those manufactured in therest of the World thereby increasing their demand exponentially.
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