Home ›› 15 Jul 2022 ›› Front
Mohammad Alamgir dropped out of school at 5th grade around 20 years ago. Born into a poor family just trying to survive in the suburbs of Dhaka, even three square meals per day was a luxury to him.
Unable to continue his studies due to extreme poverty, Alam then found work at a small factory making imitation gold jewellery in Savar’s Khaguria area. With years of hard work and a craftsman’s skill, he now owns a small ornament factory in the same area.
Alam now employs around 22 craftsmen in his factory Husain Jewellers, and is thinking of expanding it with modern facilities. Just like him, thousands of others have also been able to break the vicious cycle of poverty at Bhakurta by making imitation gold and silver ornaments.
According to local people, a majority of the Savar’s Bhakurta Union residents are rice, jute, vegetables or cattle farmers by profession.
But due to a gradual decrease in cultivable land due to urbanisation over the last ten years, many residents – especially the landless farmers – began to get involved in the imitation gold jewellery manufacturing industry.
Jewellery makers now make up the second largest professional sector in Bhakurta, right after agriculture, industry insiders say, adding that almost all households in the area are more or less involved with this sector.
Manufacturers in Bhakurta currently produce chains, necklaces, hairpins, earrings, anklets, Sita Haars, and many other silver and imitation gold ornaments.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit Bangladesh, Bhakurta used to have around 800 jewellery factories, wholesale showrooms, design shops, and galvanisers, but now, more than 1,000 such establishments can be found on both sides of the Amin Bazar-Ghatar Char road.
Md Liakat Hossain, chairman of Bhakurta Union Parishad, said, “There are around 15,000 people directly involved with the manufacturing of imitation gold jewellery in this region.
“This is a blessing for the unemployed youth, and local housewives too are now using their leisure time to make ornaments to financially support their families.”
Hindu Bhakurta, Khaguria, Solai Market, Dashpara, and Bhakurta Bazar areas – located west side of the capital city – have garnered fame all over the country for producing high quality imitation jewellery for years.
A road to financial independence
Imitation gold is made from a combination of copper, zinc and brass, the special alloy is then coated to look like gold through a process called galvanising.
Kamrul Islam, a goldsmith of Fatema Jewellery and Workshop, is working in the industry for 20 years. He also dropped out of sixth grade and started working at an imitation gold jewellery factory.
“I turned into a skilled craftsman within just three to four years. I now make a good living, and commute to work from my own home located close to the factory that employs me.”
Ajoy Chandra Das, a designer of ornaments at Bottola Bazar, used to design jewellery at Tanti Bazar in Dhaka. His father too was involved in this profession in Tanti Bazar. The duo returned to their native homes in Savar when they realised how easy it is to get work orders here.
Industry insiders say around 400-500 imitation jewellery factories are now operating in Hindu Bhakurta, Solai Market, Dashpara, and Bhakurta Bazar area. Women and children in more than 1,000 households work on making jewellery as well.
A skilled craftsman in Bhakurta makes between Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 per month. A small factory typically employs around 15 workers, while 40-50 craftsmen work in a big factory, said Enayet Ullah, a goldsmith of Rabbi Jewellers.
Abdur Rahman, a prominent wholesaler in the area and owner of Madina Jewellers at Bhakurta Bazar, said, “A large factory usually sells imitation ornaments worth Tk 20 lakh to Tk 30 lakh per month, while a small factory makes more than Tk 5 lakh in sales.”
Setu Mondol, her younger sister Mitu Mondol and mother Moyna Rani Mondol work five to six hours daily at their home in Bhakurta to support their impoverished family.
Sharing her experience, tenth grader Setu said, “Local traders pay us Tk 10 for one bhori (11.66 gram) of silver ornament. I can make around 16 chains per day, which earns me Tk 160. We have plans to set up our own imitation ornament factory someday.”
Challenges of the trade
Most of the factory owners have their showrooms at Bottola, Solai Market, Askar Market and Bhakurta Bazar.
They sell imitation ornaments to the Dhaka New Market, Chandni Chawk, Chawk Bazar, Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, Gausia Market, Metro Shopping Mall and other wholesalers across Bangladesh.
Industry insiders say Tanti Bazar of old Dhaka is the country’s top imitation market. Amid the Covid-19 crisis, trade continued through online marketplaces.
Discussing challenges of the trade, Abul Kashem – proprietor of Hasan Hossain Jewellers in Bhakurta Bazar, said, around 80 per cent to 90 per cent of metals used for manufacturing imitation ornaments are imported from India.
“But local importers increase metal prices every year citing a hike in global market prices as an excuse. We however have not increased the prices of imitation jewellery. This is a major challenge for traders such as me.” Manufacturers say the price of a kg of copper is Tk 900 to Tk 2,600 but it was Tk 450 to Tk 800 around five years ago. The prices of machinery imported from China, silver, gas and raw material used for the galvanising process have also gone up.
Mohammad Alamgir, owner of Husain Jewellers, pointed out that imitation ornament manufacturers do not have access to banks loans, so they rely on NGOs for financial support. “
But NGOs have higher loan interest rates compared to banks. This issue is preventing this promising sector from achieving its potential to the fullest.
A short history of Bhakurta
According to Manik Chan Sarkar, a 75-year-old resident of Hindu Bhakurta, “Local Hindu minorities worked at the Tanti Bazar gold market for hundreds of years and a few of them were doing it here as well.
“In the liberation war of 1971, Hindu minorities returned here while Pakistani soldiers and their local cohorts torched the minorities’ business establishments and homes in Dhaka.”
These people from the minority community pioneered the manufacture and trade of silver and brass-based ornaments in Bhakurta, and later, many others – including people from the Muslim community – gradually became involved in the industry, and helped it flourish, he added.
