Jewellery shop owners and businessmen associated with the gold ornament trade in Bowbazar area are apprehensive of huge losses ahead of the Pujas as gold items worth crores of rupees are buried under the debris in the aftermath of the collapses of several structures in the area.
Majority of the houses that have collapsed or developed cracks had goldsmiths and artisans as tenants. The entire gold market in the area has gone haywire after this incident.
More than 20 shops in the stretch between Durga Pituri Lane and Sankrapara Lane have been closed for the last four days.
“Bowbazar has the highest concentration of gold jewellery shops. Thousands of artisans have been working here for generations in crafting gold items.
“Large numbers of goldsmiths stay in rented room in these two lanes. My grandfather had rented out several rooms on the ground floor of our house. But now our house is in complete ruins,” said Chiranjit Sen, a resident of Durga Pituri Lane who is currently staying at a hotel in Sealdah.
“All the big showrooms will be affected by it as huge quantity of gold jewellery and bullion has been trapped under the debris. When an artisan gets an order, he also invests his own money to buy gold apart from what he receives from the showroom owner. This is a terrible loss for the artisans just ahead of the festive season. The government has announced compensation for the owners of the house but the artisans are in deep trouble as there has been no specific announcement about the tenants and shop-owners yet,” said Sourav Dhage, member of West Bengal Gold and Silver Refinery Association.
Mr Dhage also slammed the Metro authorities for failing to take into consideration the interests of the local business community before undertaking the project.
Third-generation gold ornament maker Goutam Dey had to face a double whammy as his house was badly damaged and he had left a huge amount of gold items inside his residence.
“We were shifted on Saturday night as large cracks started to appear on the walls and ceiling. Since many artisans used to work from my home, I always had huge quantities of gold ornaments and other items there. But I had rushed out to save my life. But now both my house and business is gone. I do not think I will be able to recover those items,” he said, sitting inside his empty jewellery shop.
“Although two of my artisans have recovered all the items intact from the workshop this morning, I suspect that our businesses will suffer tremendous losses,” said jewellery shop owner Anjan Dhar.
“More than 500 artisans and goldsmiths stayed as tenants in these buildings. It is also not easy to relocate them. The future is bleak for all of us,” said Manik Dey, a gold trader.