Deforestation hits Kangri production


Tariq Mir
Bandipora, Jan 06: The production of special Bandipora and Chrar Kangris has hit the rock bottom and the Kangri weavers attribute the decline to deforestation and shortage of raw material.Kangris, the traditional Kashmiri firepot is the proud possession of Kashmiris during winters to encounter the breathtaking chill.The varieties of Kangris produced in Bandipora and Chrar areas are considered aesthetically best and durable.In the recent years, production of these special Kangirs has shrunk pushing the weavers to live a life of absolute poverty.Ramzan Ganie, a Kangri weaver said, “We are facing problems collecting the raw material from the forest. I am seriously thinking of leaving this trade.”Wicker work artisans of Bandipora say they used to produce 10 to 15 lakh Kangris a season. “This year we could produce only 3 to 5 lakh firepots,” said Nazir Ahmad Hanji of Bandipora.They say that various plant species used as raw material in preparing famous Bandipora Kangiri are gradually disappearing from the forests.
“Even we are not in a position to get raw material from other areas,” chips in Ghulam Ahmed Ganie, an elderly Kangri weaver.The Kangiri artisans of Bandipora use wicks of plant species: Parrotia jacquemantiana (Vrn Pohu) Indigoferra pulchalla (Vrn kecch) and Cotoneaster bacillaris (Vrn linn). They say these species are perpetually becoming extinct.To expand there business, these artisans say they approached the administration for providing soft loans. “Our words fell to deaf ears,” they say. “We are a dejected lot and can’t continue with our ancestral job of producing Kangris.”Manzoor Ahmed Dar says, “I graduated in arts and continued my family business of wick work but the government does not seem interested in prolonging this art.”However, experts believe the decline in this business is not due to shrinking of forests but the technique weavers use to extract the material.“It is mainly due to the uncouth and improper operations employed in the extraction of raw material from the forests,” says Barkat Ali Quershi, DFO Handwara and a noted botanist from Bandipora.He says that Kangri weavers extract these plants in an improper manner causing retrogressive succession which leads to the extinction of this genus.“Besides, disproportionate balance between population and forest is another reason which jeopardises this art,” he adds.