Punjab polls 2022: Jalandhar's Football Chowk waits to score a goal again

Jalandhar is well-known for manufacturing sports equipment

Football Chowk, as the name suggests, is home to several sporting goods in Jalandhar. But even beyond Football Chowk, sports is quite central to this Punjab town. Cricket bats to gym equipment like dumbbells, barbells, you just name it.

Ahead of the election in Punjab, Vikas Verma, manufacturer of cricketing bats, spoke about the problems in business during the pandemic. Since “sports is not a necessity’’, the business took a toll, he said.

The bat manufacturer had to cut his staff by half in the production and sales side. Apart from other problems, raw material became very expensive.

Gurkirat Singh Kotli, minister for industries and commerce, Punjab, has called for a regulatory system to control inflation, without elaborating on it.

Varun Anand, manufacturer of gym equipment, shared similar concerns. But he pointed out that domestic demand went up. “Lockdowns impacted us, but instead of commercial enquiries, we benefitted from domestic demand. Since gyms were closed, people were using related machineries at home,” Anand said.

Naresh Gujral, Rajya Sabha MP of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), said the sports manufacturing industry in Jalandhar was hurt by Pakistan too as the country now offers a competitive price.

Expensive import due to higher customs duty added to the problems, Verma said. Even though China is not a cricket- playing nation, several items related to manufacturing of cricketing goods come from China.

SAD leader Gujral believes a "sports movement" can help revive businesses as well as resolve Punjab's drugs problems. "If we come to power, we will buy kits that will be distributed at very low prices or free across villages in Punjab," he added.