Chandigarh: Ludhiana's famous hosiery industry fears heavy financial losses because of floods in Kashmir as it is not hopeful of receiving payments for the supply of woollen items to the flood-ravaged valley, now seeking support from the Centre to bail it out.
"Ludhiana's hosiery industry is not hopeful of getting back its payments from buyers in Kashmir for the supply of woollen items as floods have caused unimaginable destruction in Kashmir," Knitwear Club, Chairman, Vinod Thapar said on Monday.
Describing massive destruction in Kashmir as "biggest setback" to one of the oldest hosiery clusters, Thapar said that majority of industrial units engaged in supply of woollen items to Kashmir, were fearing heavy losses on account of payments getting stuck.
Knitwear Club is an association of about 700 hosiery and readymade garment makers in Ludhiana. "There has been no contact with the buyers in Kashmir because of paralysed telecom network, caused by floods" said Thapar while sharing the pain and grief of the victims of flood-affected Kashmir.
As per industry analysts, the payments in the range of Rs 50 to Rs 100 crore are likely to get stuck. Ludhiana's hosiery industry supplies range of sweaters, pullovers, jackets, shawls and blankets to Kashmir as the valley is a potential market for woollen items.
"As against other markets in the country, Kashmir has demand for hosiery items for most number of months which is 10 months in a year," said Thapar. Some of the hosiery units owners are also unaware of the status of consignments supplied before the devastation took place in the valley.
"We supplied truck load of woollen items worth Rs 30 lakh on September 2 to one of our buyers in Kashmir. But so far we have not been to know whether the consignment reached its destination, triggering worries about hosiery goods," Ludhiana-based Companion Hosiery, Director, Suraj Gupta. Gupta, whose factory has been supplying hosiery items to Kashmir since 1962, said, "we have not been able to establish contact with our buyers in Kashmir because of floods.
"In a way, we are also one of the sufferers of floods in Kashmir as payments are going to get stuck," he said. Industry demanded from the Centre to come forward and bail it out.
"The government should take notice of possible financial loss to the industry and announce some compensation for the same," said Gupta. Meanwhile, Jalandhar's sports industry is also fearing unavailability of Kashmir willow wood because of floods causing massive damage in the valley.
"There is going to be a shortage of wood coming from Kashmir which is used in making cricket bats because of floods in the valley," said Jalandhar-based Ranson Sports managing partner Raghunath Rana. He said that as per rough estimates, about 4-5 lakh cricket bats are manufactured from Kashmir willow annually in Jalandhar.
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