COIMBATORE: With incidents of goldsmiths fleeing with gold bars given by jewellers to make ornaments increasing, Coimbatore city police have advised the latter to obtain surety or compile a database of workers before giving them job orders.
Around 30 such cases were reported in last five years from jewellers who outsource jewel making to migrant workers employed by units in Variety Hall, Bazaar and RS Puram. In some cases, police have travelled to native villages of workers to nab them.
According to a rough estimate, there are around 2,000 principal gold manufacturers, and they are supported by more than 20,000 small scale, unorganised gold smithery units. These employ around 15,000 workers, who are mostly from West Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha.
“They have more cutting-edge designs from North India, and consumers like them. Further, they make jewels at a reasonable rates and maintain delivery schedules. Not everybody deceives us, and the business is done based on mutual trust. But some people break the trust, despite working with us for several years, and disappear with the gold. We are in a position where we don’t know who to trust and who to suspect because our industry is founded on trust, said K Balan, a city-based jeweller. He added that migrant workers cannot be forced to provide security.
“There are not enough jobs in our hometown so we come here. Because of our innovative designs, low charges and on-time delivery, we receive job orders. We do understand that it is a trust-based business. But of late, we are seen with suspicion as a few have committed a mistake. We don’t have adequate infrastructure to offer surety or security,” said K Kalyan, a 46-year-old goldsmith.