The Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, R K Mathur today visited the Sheep Husbandry Department and Dehairing Plant at the Industrial Area in Leh. He was accompanied by Secretary, Sheep Husbandry, Ravinder Kumar.
At the Sheep Husbandry Department, the Lt. Governor inspected the fiber testing laboratory and nutrition study laboratory. He inquired about the functioning of the labs and other requirements to upgrade the fiber testing mechanism for wool, pashmina and yarn.
LG stressed on introducing and applying scientific interventions to ensure purity and best quality pashmina for long term results. He emphasised on the need to develop breeding policy, range land policy and nutrition policy and its implementation on ground to improve the breed of pashmina goats, their health and yield in a sustainable manner.
The Lt. Governor directed the concerned Secretary to coordinate with Wool Research Organisation to start research on grading, categorisation and specification of local pashmina as per international standards and apply for BIS and NABL certification of lab. He exhorted to involve professional government Institutes, top experts and local stakeholders for guidance and formulation of the policies to ensure world class pashmina products from Ladakh on a large scale. Dy. Director, Upshi Farm, Dr. Tsewang Morup apprised the LG in detail about the functioning of the laboratories and their credibility in terms of results.
At the dehairing plant, LG Mathur released a book on Pashmina Policy prepared by Hill Council Leh. Tashi Namgyal, Executive Councillor (RDD/Sheep Husbandry), LAHDC, Leh; Divisional Commissioner Ladakh, Saugat Biswas; Additional Secretary, Ravinder Kumar; Councillor, Chushul, Konchok Stanzin; Councillor, Kyungam, Thinlas Nurboo; President ALPGCMS, Dorjey Stanzin; Secretary, ALPGCMS, Sonam Tsering, officials of Sheep Husbandry Department and young entrepreneurs in Pashmina business were present on the occasion.
The Lt. Governor inspected the dehairing plant and inquired about its functionality and outcome. He also interacted with the entrepreneurs and learnt about the lacunas and challenges faced by them. He said that UT Administration is committed to provide all possible support to assist and encourage young local entrepreneurs.
He assured to organise training programs to improve spinning, weaving along with the ability to test the quality by each artisan. He urged the department to work on improving packaging of pashmina wool and to outsource for repairing, maintenance and operationalisation of the existing dehairing plant for this season. LG stressed to focus on a mechanism to ensure that a share of the profit goes to the growers and the need to upgrade the production chain followed by marketing chain
