REASI: A special enforcement drive was today conducted by the Handicraft Department and Quality Control wing in Katra to curb the sale of fake handicrafts in place of genuine art and craft.
The inspection, conducted on the directions of Director H&H Jammu Suraj Parkash Rukwal, was aimed to reinforce the implementation of the Jammu & Kashmir Tourist Trade Act 1978, Jammu & Kashmir Handicrafts Quality Control Act.
During the course of inspection by a team headed by Assistant Director Ujwal Sambyal handicraft, the dealers were found violating the prescribed norms by selling fake handicrafts in place of the genuine art and craft.
The team recovered Rs 25500/-(Rupees Forty Three Thousands Only) as fine from the erring dealers. The dealers were strictly warned to desist from the sale of fake machine made lookalikes of Jammu & Kashmir art products and advised to affix tags depicting price and composition on each item displayed for sale.
The dealers were also apprised about the benefits of the GI tagging on the notified Crafts and impact of such tagging in building the brand image of Arts products. They were strictly warned to refrain from any kind of malpractice such as touting and impersonation, which carries huge penalties under the said acts. The certification and authenticity will also help in eradicating the menace of machine made and misbranding of J&K art products. The Handicraft dealers and other stakeholders are accordingly advised to play their role in promoting the GI tagging on the notified Crafts.
Also, the inspection team interacted with the visiting tourists who were informed to ensure purchase of only genuine handicraft items especially GI tagged notified Art products from such handicrafts business establishments which are registered with Directorate of Handicrafts & Handloom. They were further advised to seek cash memos from the dealer for every purchase and retain/preserve the copy of the same for any future use.