M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, April 2: Potters in Palamu are languishing over the need for state aid. The Mati Kala Board established in the BJP-led government of Raghubar Das stands dissolved in the present JMM dispensation led by Hemant Soren.
The second in command of the erstwhile Mati Kala Board Avinash Dev who is also a JMM leader said, “We have been asking the government to revive the Mati Kala Board but the efforts have been in vain.”
“Our potters are still making pottery traditionally. It’s manual. Electric wheels are costly besides the potter can’t afford high bills of electricity for their wheels, The cost of clay has gone up twofold high. Earlier one tractor of clay was available for 1,000 rupees which now costs 2,000 rupees or so,” he added.
Villagers resent if clay is dug out from their fields. They contend that the digging of their fields for clay destroys the nature and texture of the soil. All pottery works come to halt in the rainy season and thus this season has an adverse effect on the dwindling economy of the potter.
Avinash Dev said “A new trend has begun in the wedding ceremony. The hosts and the guests are discarding disposable plastic cups for kesar sharbat. Earthen kulhars are preferred. But as I told you, the potters are not in a position to market their earthen ware.”
one of the potter said that Marketing for pottery lacks push. It has to be more energized. “Nine out of ten potters still sit by the side of the roads and sell their earthenwares like diyas, cups plates, surahis etc. Shops we do not know,” he added.
Women do pottery but these women are not properly linked to the self-help groups called Sakhi Mandal.
