In Indian-administered Kashmir, two hard coronavirus years for ‘pencil village’

NEW DELHI: Decide up a pencil wherever in India and it’s extremely possible it was made utilizing the comfortable wooden of poplar timber native to Ukhoo, a village in Pulwama district in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The realm, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in a radio present final yr, provides greater than 90% of the wooden utilized by India’s pencil producers, incomes it the nickname “pencil village.”

However as pandemic faculty closures have dealt a serious blow to the training and associated industries, Ukhoo too has seen a pointy drop in demand for its principal product, pencil slats, main manufacturing facility house owners to scale back their workforce.

Out of 18 slat factories within the Kashmir Valley, 17 are in Pulwama district and 7 in Ukhoo on the banks of the Jhelum River.

Staff produce pencil slats at a Jhelum Agro Business manufacturing facility in Ukhoo village, Pulwama district, in Indian-administered Kashmir on December 18, 2021. (Picture courtesy: Manzoor Ahmad Allaie)

“Earlier, we used to have a turnover of over $130,000 per 30 days, now it is simply $27,000 to $40,000,” mentioned pencil slat manufacturing facility proprietor Manzoor Ahmad Allaie, who owns Jhelum Agro Industries, including that his unit’s manufacturing had decreased to 30 % of pre-coronavirus ranges and income had considerably decreased.

The 45-year-old businessman mentioned he arrange his manufacturing facility in 2013 when he first learnt {that a} pencil manufacturing facility was sourcing wooden from the valley.

“I visited pencil manufacturing items in Jammu and located that they’re making slats out of logs earlier than making pencils,” he mentioned. “Then I advised to producers that this picket block will be made within the valley itself and that can save the associated fee and time, and in 2013 we arrange the primary unit.”

Allaie began with 15 workers, a quantity that grew tenfold over the yr, he mentioned, saying his firm and different native producers equipped pencil factories in Jammu, Chandigarh and Gujarat, and one of many nation’s largest pencil producers, Nataraj.

Staff produce pencil slats at a Jhelum Agro Business manufacturing facility in Ukhoo village, Pulwama district, in Indian-administered Kashmir on December 18, 2021. (Picture courtesy: Manzoor Ahmad Allaie)

Now, the pandemic had plunged the business right into a “deep disaster,” mentioned Feroz Ahmad, the proprietor of Barkat Agro Industries, which entered the enterprise in 2014.

“This business not solely employs locals but additionally folks from exterior,” he mentioned, “however the authorities will not be doing sufficient to guard us.” he mentioned.

Allaie agreed that Ukhoo wanted the “consideration of the federal government.”

A neighborhood administration official mentioned the federal government was exploring methods to provide the business a lift via incentives however producers first wanted to “fulfill sure necessities.”

“The pencil business within the Ukhoo village is in an unorganized sector meaning the factories are working from non-public lands,” Mahmood Ahmad Shah, an industries and commerce director within the Jammu and Kashmir administration, informed Arab Information. “We’re exploring the chances to seek out some lands in Ukhoo village and declare it an industrial property and transfer the industries there.”

A current ministry of residence affairs report mentioned Ukhoo can be developed as a “particular zone” for manufacturing. 

“Now the entire nation can be equipped completed pencils,” the report mentioned, “manufactured utterly in Pulwama.”