Tussle between 2 groups of knitwear club aggravates
There seems to be no end in sight to the tussle going on between two groups of Knitwear Club since 2012 over the issue of elections. After initial indications that the groups were ready for a compromise sometime back, the factions are again at loggerheads.
There seems to be no end in sight to the tussle going on between two groups of Knitwear Club since 2012 over the issue of elections. After initial indications that the groups were ready for a compromise sometime back, the factions are again at loggerheads.
Knitwear club president Darshan Dawar and chairman Vinod Thapar, who have been levelling allegations against each other for the past two years, are still not ready for any middle way. Members say that the tussle was now a war of ego and nothing else and has caused severe damage to the prospects of hosiery and textile industry.
The club could have been an interconnecting medium between various industries that could have been a boon for the industry. With nearly 1,400 members, elections to the club are held every two years. There are thousands of knitwear units in Ludhiana that were benefitted by seminars, meetings that are organised from time to time. But, no such activity has taken place for the past two years.
Even the office of the club has been lying closed, as both the factions have put their locks on the door of the club.
Thapar, who was the president of the club till 2012, became the chairman and Dawar was elected as the club president. Soon after the elections, problems started cropping up and Dawar faction in a general house meeting ousted Thapar as the chairman. In another meeting called by the Thapar, the faction refused to recognise Dawar as the president of the club.
But now even Dawar group was planning to file a writ petition in high court for elections as per the constitution of the club. On the other hand, Thapar group wants withdrawal of case filed by Dawar.
A club member said, “It is only an ego war and nothing else. Both the groups could have worked together for the betterment of industry, but there are some unscrupulous elements who want to get benefitted due to the problems between Dawar and Thapar.”
Dawar said Vinod Thapar was levelling baseless allegations time and again on different issues. “We are ready for elections and I have also planned to file a writ petition in Punjab and Harayana high court regarding holding of elections of the Knitwear Club,” Dawar said.
Dawar said it was him, who along with the then member of Parliament from Ludhiana Manish Tewari made efforts to revoke central excise on hosiery industry that bore results in 2013. “Even e-trip was removed from hosiery because of my efforts,” Dawar said.
On the other hand, Thapar said Dawar was himself not interested in holding elections of the club. “We asked before Lok Sabha elections in May this year that elections of the club should be held. However, we were told that due to parliamentary elections it can't be done. Later, the elections were delayed on the pretext of season of hosiery industry,” Thapar said.
