Criminals' eye Bhagalpur silk industry

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">BHAGALPUR: Silk has always been associated with this erstwhile state of Champapuri. But now, criminals'' are posing a serious threat to the silk industry here. As a result, the weavers also allege that now police, criminals and custom officials (better known as PCC among them) are their real "<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bhagyavidhata</span>".<br /><br />A few months ago, the Chinese and Korean silk threads were available to the weavers at a rate of Rs 650 per kg, but now its rate in the market has gone up to Rs 1,800 per kg."<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Ab is shahar ke saare criminal hi silk syndicate chalane lage hain</span>," Mohammad Khairuddin, a weaver of Champanagar locality.<br /><br />Silk exporters here also believe that the Bhagalpur silk industry is in turmoil. Lack of proper infrastructure and criminals'' intervention has spoiled the true colours of the Bhagalpuri silk fabrics, which had been eulogised in scriptures and ancient books both in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, feels Zia-ur-Rahman, the convener of the Bhagalpur Silk Development Forum, adding it is really heart-breaking that made in Bhagalpur Benarasi and Kanchipuram saris are being sold in world markets, while weavers here are starving.<br /><br />Not a single weaver has a happier story to narrate. "With our business coming to an end, my six children have turned into beggars," says Shamina Biwi, wife of a silk weaver of Nathnagar. They move from door to door and eat whatever the kind neighbours give them, says this Muslim widow, whose husband was once a well-off weaver of Bhagalpur area.<br /><br />Afaq Asad Azad alias Masi, who was a noted silk exporter of Bhagalpur nearly a decade ago, has now given up his traditional business and now works as a munshi in a grocery shop at Forbesganj. "Being jobless and moneyless for months, it became too difficult for us to feed our seven children. The government also seems uninterested in reviving this traditional art in the city," he says.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Bhagalpur SP Raveendran Sankaran said he had received some information regarding the criminals'' interference in the silk industry. "We would take punitive measures against them soon," the SP said.</div> </div>