Coimbatore: Cops ask jewellers to take surety from workers after goldsmiths flee with bars

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 the 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 the workers to arrest 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 teh 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. However, we are ready to submit our documents and support if they create a database of workers," said K Kalyan, a 46-year-old goldsmith.

"We convened a meeting with the jewel makers recently to discuss the matter. We must prevent such crime since every jeweller will suffer significant financial loss as a result of the loss of gold" said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) G Chandeesh. He added that they discussed a number of options, including compiling a comprehensive database about them that they believe will aid in locating them or their family members, as well as obtaining the gold or partially finished jewels from them at the end of each day and returning them for work the next morning. Like, various concepts were discussed. But no decision has been made," he added.

B Muthuvenkatram, president of the Coimbatore Jewellery Manufacturers Association (CJMA), said,"Principal jewellery manufacturers should insure the gold before giving it for jewel making. It is a temporary solution to prevent loss from such thefts."

"At the same time, we're asking the government to bring a jewellery park to house all of these works under one roof, where we can offer a shared security system and ensure that nobody can take the gold without authorization. A few years ago, we did business worth Rs 100 crore every day. But it has decreased to Rs 20 crore after the price hike. Amid this, the theft and cheating cause us to suffer a huge loss," he added.