AMC sealing drive has put the very existence of the market at stake: Experts.
Around 15,000 diamond workers in Bapunagar in the city have become jobless, as a result of a sealing drive by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
The diamond market in the city is losing business worth Rs3 crore-Rs4 crore every day. And although the heat faced by the sector appears temporary, it may be heading towards a deeper crisis. Experts in the market believe that if the diamond units are not restarted at the earliest, it will be very difficult to bring the shine back into the business.
Diamond workers in the city observed a bandh to protest against the sealing drive, which was joined by workers from all the diamond units in the area.
They also carried out a silent rally and submitted a memorandum to the deputy municipal commissioners of the east and north zone of the city. "More than 15,000 diamond workers participated in the rally," said Mukesh Patel, a diamond unit owner.
There are more than 300 diamond polishing units in Thakkarbapanagar and Bapunagar areas of Ahmedabad, that employ more than one lakh diamond workers. The daily turnover of the market in Ahmedabad is around Rs10 crore-Rs15 crore, including daily wages paid to the workers, profit of diamond unit owners and foreign exchange earned from export.
And apart from the losses that the sealing will cause to these units, this development may also send out wrong signals in the international market, harming the reputation of the Ahmedabad market and ultimately resulting in loss of business. "If the Ahmedabad market is unable to provide finished diamonds to the exporters in Mumbai, the business may shift to other destinations, and that will be very difficult to reverse," said Vinod Jogani, president of Ahmedabad Diamond Association.
Vallabh Kakadia, MLA from Bapunagar and also a diamond unit owner, said that the state government is planning a way out as a majority of the buildings in the area are illegal. However, it will take some time to change the existing rules. Kakadia expects the high court to have a lenient approach towards diamond units, as has been in the cases of dispensaries and banks.
The sealing drive has massively affected the diamond workers, who have just returned from a one-month long Diwali holiday. "If the workers do not find work for a longer while, they will have to take a call on whether to continue living here, or move," said Jogani.
This will result in Ahmedabad being wiped off the diamond polishing industry's map, he said. Suresh Patel, state office secretary of Mahagujarat Janta Party (MJP), said that this might lead to a repetition of an earlier dire situation where 125 diamond workers had committed suicide.
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