Bardhaman Dot Com News Bureau
Burdwan, 12 Aug 04:
One of the ancient & potential small-scale industry based at Bardhaman is on the brim of extinction. The art of making knieves & scissors of Kanchanagar, Burdwan is well known all over the world & the products are often exported to almost every country of the world. The products of these craftsmen even decorate the royal kitchen at Buckingham palace. The knieves made by these superb craftsmen are used by Botanical garden & other renowned nurseries for grafting. 
 

Now a days only five families of craftsmen from the tradition old industry are fighting to live to tell the tale of a lost war. The living craftsmen genetically inherit the skill of making striking illustrations of knives and scissors out of steel. They can replicate at once the same piece of kinfe made by a modern machine in Japan. They have introduced some latest models of kinives such as ‘Grafting knife’ and `Curding and Braes knife’ etc. Nirmal Chandra (52) one of the craftsman of the Kanchannagar industry explained the factors behind the vanishing of the industry. The main factors are negligence of government's support in capital investment and uncontrolled price hike of the raw materials. "At his juncture, we don't have enough capital to buy bulk raw-materials & also can't sell the finished goods in credit." The Mahajans take full advantage of the situation, complains Chandra. He said "the Mahajans are insisting that the craftsmen can’t punch their own mark on their products, and instead they have to put the prescribed mark of them". The same products are sold in the market and are still exported abroad bearing the mark of the traders, at

far higher rates than that paid to the craftsmen. As a result , the Kanchannagar brand remains unknown and middleman dependent. The goods are sold at higher price & the profit doesn’t reach to the poor craftsmen. 
 
The craftsmen insisted that, they face problem in transporting of their products to the market. "We have to pay hefty bribe to the GRP and RPF, or else they shall seize our goods in spite of having valid license and invoice" informed Bangsogopal, another craftsman. "I once had my own factory but now have to work in others, as I couldn’t survive the situation" he added. Many craftsmen left the industry and engaged themselves in some other jobs. They had a co-operative , but that also shutdown due to negligence. Craftsmen complained that, in spite of having all the qualities and abilities, the district industrial development department and banks are not interested in granting any loan. "We are not even invited in the handicraft fairs organised by the Government or NGOs", said a craftsman. After the closer of co-operative, most of the craftsmen left the place in search of work to keep themselves & their families alive. 

Lack of direct orders & market controlled by `middleman' have pushed this once glittering small-scale industry to the extinction. If nothing is done to promote this industry very fast, the day is very near when the scissors & knieves of Kanchannagar will only be found in the pages of the history books.