Gem and jewellery craftsmen of Kolkata to hone their skills at upcoming Common Facility Centre
Kolkata/IBNS: Kolkata-based artisans working with gem and jewelley will soon be able to take advantage of a Common Facility Centre (CFC) where they can work with modern tools and techniques.
Groundbreaking ceremony of the centre located in Bowbazar, the traditional jewellery manufacturing hub in central Kolkata, was recently held under the aegis of The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the Swarna Shilpa Bachao Samiti (SSBC).
Rupa Dutta, Economic Advisor and Senthil Nathan, Deputy Secretary, both from the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry were present at the function along with Pramod Agrawal, Chairman, GJEPC.
Prakash Chandra Pincha, GJPEC Regional Chairman, Kolkata, said, it is important to give Indian artisans an equal footing in the context of global market and the CFC will go a long way in doing that once it becomes functional.
"It is expected that Kolkata will play an important role in growing the exports of gem and jewellery from USD 40 billion to USD 75 billion in the next 5 years,” said Pincha.
Said Rupa Dutta, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, praised the role of the GJEPC in making the government's plan to build these CFCs a reality.
"Kolkata will be an absolutely good idea for CFC as Bow Bazar is a hub of gold jewellery and from all over India, we all know that especially the Bengali karigars in terms of handcrafted jewellery do amazing work," said Dutta.
The common facility centres have modern machines with testing tools as well, said Dutta.
According to her, "GJEPC is a huge employment generator even in the domestic industry and contributes 7% of our GDP where 5 million people work.”
Pramod Agarwal, Chairman, GJEPC, lauded the craftsmanship exhibited by the artisans of Kolkata.
"I travel to many places and have not seen this kind of jewellery which the hardworking artisans prepare with all their heart. I myself started with one artisan who was a Bengali. This CFC will help the karigars to achieve what they were unable to achieve. Kolkata’s art is really in heart of the people. What I feel is all of us should come together to grow exports,” said Agarwal.
GJEPC was set up by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in 1996.
GJEPC with the support of the ministry has already set up Common Facility Centres in Amreli, Palanpur, Visnagar and Junagadh in Gujarat.
(Reporting by Sanya Anand)
Image Credit: GJEPC India/website
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