By IANS,
Ahmedabad : It is business as usual in diamond processing units in Rakiyal and Bapunagar in eastern Ahmedabad, which were the targets of Saturday’s bomb blasts in which at least 39 people were killed.
Units processing diamonds opened Sunday and workers were going about their job of cutting and polishing diamonds. Bapunagar is now the hub of city’s diamond cutting and polishing business.
“There is no tension at all. People have put behind Saturday’s bomb blasts in the area,” said diamond businessman Gordhan Zadaphia, who was a former minister of state for home in the Narendra Modi cabinet. He represented Rakiyal assembly constituency during 2002-07.
“The blasts have not shaken the confidence of the people. Not at all. I am sitting very near the area where a blast occurred. People are moving around and doing their jobs just like everyday,” he said when contacted by IANS.
Zadaphia, who owns five units, said the city provided ideal market conditions and infrastructure was conducive for the industry to grow emerging as an alternative to Surat for cutting and polishing rough diamonds procured from Belgium, Russia and Canada.
Industry sources said at least 3,000 to 4,000 new units are likely to be set up in Bapunagar. The trade estimates the turnover at Rs.500 million a month.
Diamond cutting and polishing in Bapunagar has virtually become a house-hold industry.
Spurred by the success of the diamond cutting and polishing units, several professional training institutes have come up in Bapunagar where trainees are imparted technical knowledge on cutting and polishing of diamonds.