Bhagalpur, June 25: Anwar Ansari was a busy man till October 1989, his cash registers ringing with a full-fledged manufacturing unit of 22 handlooms and 200 staff at his native Toumani, 40 km from the district headquarters, weaving the world-famous Bhagalpur tasar, an indigenous silk produced from cocoons.
Today, the 42-year-old silk merchant earns a daily wage of Rs 20 in Champanagar, weaving a metre of cheap cloth with the imported China-Korea artificial silk yarn.
He recalls how thousands of rioters destroyed every thing around him on a massacre spree in the village on the fateful morning of October 26, 1989. The traditional silk weaver managed to save himself, not his profession.
Bibi Fatima (57), another survivor of the Bhagalpur communal carnage, continues to blame her fate. She lives in acute penury with two sons, who pull rickshaws at Nathnagar. She owned 18 handlooms and earned more than Rs 7,000 every month before 1989.
“My husband looked after the handlooms while I, including my children, prepared tasar yarns. My husband was butchered in the riot and the silk units destroyed,” said Fatima.
Official records state there was more than 84,000 handlooms in Banka before October 1989, with more than 1.75 lakh weavers. Today it has reduced to 85,000 with hardly 30,000-35,000 handlooms remaining. “There are hardly 1000 weavers who still depend on the traditional Bhagalpuri silk manufacturing,” said Balgovind Sharma, a silk exporter here.
Says Md. Obetullah Ansari, a local silk manufacturer, “There were 28 large silk export houses having their headquarters at Bhagalpur. Most of them operated by the minority community exported silk to Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, USA, Australia and England. Bhagalpuri silk also had huge demand in the Asia and Middle East markets.” “Today there are only 12 export houses in the city, but none have their headquarters here. All shifted to Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai after the riots,” said silk exporter Ziabur Rahman.
According to Binoy Sharma, a local silk exporter, it costs Rs 2400/kg for tussar yarn while the imported China-Korea material is available for Rs 1700-1800.
To be continued
