History
In the late 80’s when Bangalore started growing at a rapid pace a need was felt by the senior traders dealing in Glass, Plywoods & Laminates to get together and form an Association.
With the blessings of their elders the core dealers in its formation were
- Mr. Vinod Bajaj of Dev Bajaj Glass & Plywoods
- Mr. G.R Prasad of Murthy Glass & Plywoods
- Mr. Seshagiri Rao of Srinivasa Plywoods
- Mr. Lakshman of Nirmal Glass & Plywoods
Thus was formed the Bangalore Glass, Plywoods and Laminates Merchants Association.
The President
- Shri S. Ramamurthy - Murthy Glass & Plywoods
Vice presidents
- Shri. R. P Malhotra - Darshan Glass & Plywoods
- Shri B.S Shanker - Plywood Centre
Hon. Secretary
- Shri. Vinod Bajaj - Dev Bajaj Glass & Plywoods
Hon. Joint Secretary
- Shri N. Seshagiri Rao - Srinivasa Plywood Centre
Hon. Treasurer
- Shri Belagodu Parthasarthy - Maharaja Frame Works
And following were the committee members
- Shri M. Ashok Kumar - Sree Balaji Plywoods
- Shri C.R Surendernath - B.V. Narayanswamy & Co
- Shri B. S Pillappa - Sunil Glass & Plywoods
- G.T Venkataramanaiah Setty - Gopi Glass & Plywoods
- M. Lakshman - Nirmal Glass & Plywoods
- M. Ananthapadmanabhaiah - Acanthus Glass Emporium
- Naveen Mehata - Mysore Laminates
- Ashwathanarayansetty - Sree Raghavendra Glass & Plywoods
- R. Ratnam - Balaji Glass House
This Association worked towards strengthening itself by adding more members and brought out an informatory diary which consisted the names and addresses of 194 dealers in Bangalore City then.
As time progressed, Markets grew and with the influx of the next generation the need was felt for a change in the working committee especially as the youngsters in alliance with FKCCI and other trade associations had worked hard to successfully protest against the imposition of entry tax.
An AGM was held in the second half of 1991 in the premises of Mr. Paranjothi, No.8, Kilari Road cross where 69 members were present. In the discussions that took place it was decided to change the name of the Association from B.G.P & L.M.A to THE KARNATAKA GLASS PLYWOODS & LAMINATES DEALERS ASSOCIATION (reg).
A new team of office bearers were elected. In end 1992 The Karnataka Glass Plywoods and Laminates Dealers Association (reg) was officially registered with the above mentioned address as office.
The new committee formed was :
Advisory Committee
- Shri Ramamurthy
- Shri R. P Malhotra
- Shri B. S Shankar
- Shri B. Parthasarathy
President
- Paranjothi K.R
Vice presidents
- Prasad G. R
- Vinod Bajaj
Hony. Secretary
- Surendranath C. R
Hon. Joint Secretary
- Prakash Chand C
Hon. Treasurer
- Kamal Shah
Committee members:
- Ananthapadmanabhaiah A
- Ashok Kumar M
- Ayyar V.R
- Balaram S
- Gautam Chand P
- Hunaid Taher
- Kamal Dudhoria
- Modi A. R
- Pillappa B. S
- Sethia D.C
In the end of 1994 when Vinod Bajaj left for the USA his younger brother, Vintu Bajaj, was inducted in his place.
This committee worked hard and took the strength upto 800 members by 2002.
Many social activities too were undertaken with the Association donating substantially to the earthquake victims in Gujrat and Martyrs of Kargil War.
In the AGM of 2002, we had invited Shri Ashok Kumar Manoli, IAS and the Asst. Commissioner of Commercial Taxes then as our chief guest and shri K. N Jayalingappa, then president of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry, who released the Trade Directory and our very own Vysya Jyothi, Vysya Ratna, Udyog Ratna, Vasavi Seva Ratna Shri Rama Murthy who distributed the Laminated Membership Certificates of the Association to all the members present.
Our Trade directory was presented to the dignitaries and they were honored in the traditional way of gifting them with shawls & mementos.
Trade directory was circulated free of cost during the AGM.
In 2003 We participated in the protests for implementation of VAT.
In 2004-05 multiple seminars were organised for the benefit of the members to prepare them with the functions of VAT which was introduced mid 2005.
Around this period and in the years to come a lot many dealers passed away.