Pulwama pencils script a made-in-Kashmir story
LASSIPORA (PULWAMA): Every time a child picks up a lead pencil to write, chances are he or she may be holding a piece of Kashmir. A significant portion of the wood in making the country’s top brands of pencils comes from South Kashmir.
Not many know that Oukhoo, the Pencil Village in the militant hotbed of Pulwama, is the hub for making pencil slats, the main raw material. Dozens of units are engaged in preparing slats inside homes from a special poplar tree that grows only in the wetlands of district.
“The wood of trees grown here has the right amount of moisture for making pencils,” says Abdul Rahim, who owns a small unit. Officials say 60% of pencil production work is done in Lassipora, one of Kashmir’s biggest industrial estates set up over 300 hectares in 1984.
Surrounded by apple orchards, hundreds of bags of raw wood neatly stacked and ready for despatch to the country’s prominent pencil-making industries are testimony to the work 250 units are doing at the estate. “We have eight units where slats are prepared and we supply the raw material to Hindustan Pencils, which makes the Natraj and Apsara brands, and is the second biggest pencil manufacturer in the world,” says Feroz Ahmad, who set up his first unit in 2013 and now owns another one in neighbouring Kakpora.
Women lead the charge
Ahmad, a graduate from Amar Singh College, Srinagar, says that most of the work in these units is being done by local women. “This industry generates employment for nearly 2,000 people. At Oukhoo, small units have come up in homes,” he says. “Earlier, we used to supply wood to pencil makers but now we have started making slats on our own,” says Shabir Ahmad, a unit owner.
The unit owners are keen on making the whole pencil in Kashmir and then selling it. “If the government gives us incentive then complete pencils can be made here,” says Showkat Ahmad, a unit holder, adding that initially the government needs to support them as they have to compete with big brands.
“If we start manufacturing pencils, thousands will get jobs. It only needs government support. I’m ready for full-fledged production,” he says.
The estate unit holders’ president at Lassipora, Nissar Ahmad, says there is an opportunity for growth if the government provides a level-playing field. “The toll post at Lakhanpur (Jammu) has been abolished for unit holders outside the state. How does the government expect the local industry to compete with big units?” he says.