Cash war robs gold of glitter

Proddutur (Kadapa): This tiny town with a population of 1.62 lakh located on the banks of the Penna river in the faction-ridden Kadapa district is widely known as a ‘gold spot’ or Second Mumbai for gold market.

The town cannot basks in that glory any longer as the cash crisis unleashed by Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s surgical strike on the black money virtually robs it of the much-famed glitter.

The triangle junction connecting Anjaneya Swamy temple, Dargah and Ammavarisala, in the main bazaar is a nerve centre for jewellery trade.

When the shops with displaying finished items with a range of designs are located on the main roads, hordes of goldsmiths are engaged in making jewellery in dingy structures in the narrow bylanes nearby.

One has to struggle his or her way through the roads overcrowded with customers coming from far and wide for jewellery purchases and the traffic bottlenecks are a common sight.

Whether it is a marriage or any other social occasion, all roads from the three the Rayalaseema districts of Kurnool, Anantapur and Chittoor lead to this town for gold purchases.

But a visit by The Hans India team in the backdrop of the PM’s `war on cash’ revealed that the `gold spot’ is missing all the hustle and the bustle now.

Instead, the roads leading to the jewellery marts and small units making jewellery are wearing a deserted look. Gloom looms over the poor families of over 4,000 smiths living on jewellery-making.

Daily incomes drastically fell for the goldsmiths as the trade is starved of cash and deprived of consumers.

“It is an ancestral vocation being handed down from generation to generation and we don’t know any work other than the jewellery-making,” said V Muralidhar, secretary of the goldsmiths association.

The association leaders have been visiting the smiths’ families infusing moral strength among them to weather this worst-ever crisis with grit and determination.

The smiths mastered the art of making chains, rings, earrings as per the latest designs of the choice of customers, dying of ornaments, repairs and shining of jewellery.

The town wakes up to the rhythmic sounds produced in the process of making jewellery, which is a cottage industry as a daily routine.

The work fetches each worker an income ranging up to Rs 1,000 a day in a normal course.

The town has earned an envious title as the `Second Mumbai’ for itself by beckoning a large number of traders and customers alike to procure the finished gold items, thanks to the dexterity of the smiths.

According to information, the smiths receive orders from Telangana, Karnataka and even Odisha.

“We receive orders for latest designs from customers and we give them the finished items as per their choice and taste in a stipulated timeframe,” said Ilyas, another smith.

S K Hidayathulla of Darga Street who has four members in the family to feed, used to earn Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 per month by making jewellery.

Now he is left to the mercy of lenders as the demonetisation has hit him hard. He is desperately looking for alternative sources of living while his wife has been engaged as a cook by a landlord in the town.

Ahmed Hussain, a jewellery trader said the current year ending in a month has turned out to be a jinx for gold trade.

Levy on 2 per cent tax on gold purchases caused unrest among customers and traders as well, resulting in closure of shops for several days.

In addition, the latest curbs imposed by the Union Finance ministry on holding of gold (500 gm from women and 250 gm for men) appeared to be a double whammy for the trade, he bemoaned.

By: M Srinivasa Rao