IT is literally showering gold inSonagachi and other red light districtsof Calcutta, including Harkata Gali inBowbazar area, Kalighat andKidderpore. Large amounts of gold jewelry are being smuggled in everydayfrom Bangladesh and smelted in someof Calcutta's most congested districts,causing what the state pollution controlboard (PCB) sees as an alarming environmental and health problem.
Fumes from chemicals used to smeltimpure gold is a major source oflocalised pollution in these densely populated areas. Various NGOs haveexpressed serious apprehensions aboutthe situation, and the BaranagarMunicipal Corporation has been forcedto hold a public meeting on the issue.
In mid-April 1995, a senior PC13 Official had hinted that there were increasing signs of Calcutta becoming the mostimportant centre for gold smugglingafter the infamous Bombay blasts madethe western coast unfit for smugglingoperations.
In Bombay, gold was normallysmuggled in bulk, in biscuit form. Butthe peculiarity of the Calcutta operations is that the stuff is being brought inthe form jewelry. And that is the rootcause behind pollution and health hazard due to smelting.
"Gold that comes in bricks or biscuits is pure, 24 carat stuff. In fact, we have to bring it down to 22 carat byadding copper, but melting that golddoes not require acid. We only need asmall furnace, which gives heat which isa little above the one from your kitchengas oven," says Purna Sarkar, a goldsmith from Bowbazar's sonapatti (goldbelt). He denies any health hazards inthis kind of goldsmithery.
However, if the gold is brought in asjewelry, it has to be smelted, using aquaregia, a highly concentrated mixture ofnitric and hydrochloric acids, and thenpurified. Only after that can the gold bereused to make jewelry.
The smelting method is fraught withdanger. Says Kalachand Saba, a goldsmith in Sonagachi, "I do it on my terrace, so that fumes rise up and dispersefast. And after putting the acid in, Imove away as fast as possible from thespot. Despite that, I need the juice of 10-12 lemons, and a pint of English liquourto counter the effect of the acid fumes,"Saha said.
But that is not the way the operations are taking place in the tiny one- room affairs in congested parts of thecity. Reports say that up to six smelterswork in each room, and the fumes coilup and stay in the room. The corrosivefluid wastes flow out into open drainsoutside, still fuming. Most smelters havebeen reported to have developed majorrespiratory problems.
The PCB'S internal reports and spotchecks have found the situation alarming. "There have been repeated complaints from residents of localities likeKashipore and Baranagar about large-scale environmental problems due toacid fumes," said Bishwajeet Mukherjee,law officer, state PCB. There have alsobeen formal complaints from Barabazar(which earlier was never a gold smeltingcentre).
The nature of the complaints fromBaranagar forced the PCB to urge themunicipal chairperson of the ward toconvene a meeting of goldsmiths onAugust 29, 1995. The goldsmiths admitted that "large amounts of nitric andsulfuric acids are being used to smeltgold". Some guidelines were spelt out toprotect the environment, but the goldsmiths' organisations refused to obtainany clearance from the state PCB, whichaccording to Deb Kumar Basu, PCBchairperson, is illegal.
The entire operation of smuggling ishighly organised. The gold carriers -mostly women - come fromBangladesh. "Mostly women, virtuallyin tatters and evidently poor, come inwearing heavy jewelry and sell them onour side and walk away with the money.The security forces, even if they want to,cannot body-search the women,"Mukherjee said. Sometimes men andwomen bring sacks full of smaller piecesof jewelry embedded in lozenges andtoffees.
In the second stage, the gold isbrought to Calcutta. Specialisedcouriers take the gold to the city's sexdistricts - an excellent terrain forcovert operations with its impenetrablehideouts, and of course, a well-oiledpolice support.
Amitabha Das, a doctor involvedwith the World Health Organization-funded AIDs awareness campaign inCalcutta's sex districts, says, "I amextremely worried. As it is, the healthconditions of these girls are fragile. Ifyou add this level of toxic fumes to theiralready abject living conditions, they've had it."
And all this perhaps cannot be stopped because of the well-honed institutionalised support that this hazardous goldrush enjoys. Besides, according to a Bowbazar goldsmith, where the annual demand for gold in the Indian market is 200 tonne, our annual yield is only five tonne. "The jewelry industry cannot survive without smuggling," says Purna Sarkar.
The operators do not hide that they are powerful. "But for this smuggled gold, you'd see all these big, glittering showrooms shut shop," said Saha.Then he added menacingly, "What are you looking for? If the sarkar (government) cannot catch us, what can the PCB do? In any case, who is the sarkar? We are!"