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Major Dhyan Chand || Jammu Bamboo in search of Godfather || Bhushan Parimoo || LIVE IMAGE |
Hockey stick in the hands of late Dhyan Chand Mesmerizing stick work ,was made of jammu raw material , manufactured in Sailkote .Which earned him the name of Wizard, Three Olympic gold medals , 1928, 32 and 36 more than 400 goals] during his international career .
Hockey stick handle of Jasrota bamboo and mulberry/ khair (Acacia catechu) blade from this state, together has created a niche in the sports world, for its durability dependence thus preferred it by the hockey players till partition, Willow and bamboo badminton rackets were also much sought after, Sailkote , in neighborhood had an monopoly, in sports manufacturing industry since 1919, The world’s largest production center for badminton, hockey, football, volleyball, basketball, and cricket equipment. And raw material was imported from Jammu for Hockey sticks and badminton rackets, willow from Kashmir for cricket bats.
Partition of the country Sailkote on other side not only dried the export avenues for raw material from this state but northern India was left with without any sports industry, After Post independence sports industry developed first in Jalandhar further expanded to Meerut .
State of Jammu and Kashmir which had till then monopoly on world class raw material , for hockey sticks, badminton rackets and cricket bats, did nothing to seize this opportunity, as blessing and establish Sports industry in the State itself nearer the availability of raw material. Bamboo of local specie which had stood the test of completion,spread over thousands Sq km area, starting from Lakhanpur on right side of NHA1 and Dhar –Udhampur road up to five thousand feet from mean sea level .
Export of willow wood and semi finished items from Kashmir valley , were banned on public demand were instrumental to, developed worlds class Cricket Bat manufacturing industry, Whereas , Jammu , Bamboo did not get any God Father to find incentive to establish bamboo, mulberry based sports industry despite enormous potential No effort even was made to export semi finished Bamboo sports item to nearby sports industry hub, Jallander just 180 away in Punjab .
Had import of bamboo and export of semi finished bamboo goods been , on similar lines as Willow Encouraged to establish Bamboo based sports industry, and other items, it would had grown over the period of times, one of the best,Industrial hub Generated incremental job avenues to large section of our society Jammu bamboo has a distinct characteristic of its own which posses better qualities, not found in many of its species elsewhere.
It requires very less water, with stand harsh climate soil, and stands erect or in a molded condition for lasting effect, It was found use in every item of rural needs, fodder fences, plough handle, cots, baskets, fruit containers, Grain bins, thatching materials, scaffolding, Moveable stairs walking sticks and many others Bamboo cottage industry was in hands of underprivileged section of our society here, who sustained on demand of bamboo goods of our use Partition was instrumental to close Suchetgarh, bamboo export market closing at to it,
Forest department lackadaisical approach ,attitude of non interference allowed it to carry detrimental bamboo devastation in its own Bamboo forest in Kathua district Which was once called proud possession of forest Department , envy to others In 1970,Conservator of forests East, thought to clear meshed dried clumps of bamboo, over an area of 3500 ha in Kathua district, and introduce new crops Clearing proved another disaster, after clearing the bamboos, department planted new variety of bamboo plus Kher , and all dried up instead Lantana camara,
A weed grew instead And it gave opportunity to encroaches, to grab forest land as there was no sign of any forest left Readers may feel hard to believe, that while formulating an action plan for propagation and development of Bamboo in the country under a scheme called Bamboo Mission under Department of Agriculture, it was surprise to them that Bamboo do exists in Jammu and Kashmir state Indicating clear that Forest department of our state never thought to preserve , improve our native bamboo stocks, never disseminated information anywhere .
Envisaged objectives are to promote growth of bamboo sector, to promote marketing of bamboo and bamboo based handicrafts, to generate employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled persons, especially unemployed youth .
We get 1 crore pilgrims to Mata Vaishno Dei,Devi shrine, Amarnath Yatra and tourism venues bamboo based item has a vast potential, Waste baskets, Big collection bins instead of steel used by Municipalities, Bamboo bags,even composite bins for urban areas .
General public opinion is that we ,Wlack formidable foresters like Late Sh. Ram Lal Khajuria Sahib CCF who preferred resignation rather than opening JASROTA BAMBOO FORESTS for grazing and didn’t succumbed to the pressure of then PM Late GM Bakshi Sahib. After that extinction of Bamboo forests commenced.
Bushan Parimoo
(The writer is a Jammu based environmentalist and a regular contributor to this Website.)
(Feedback at: blparimoo@gmail.com)
