Nuapada: Sixty or so ‘kumhar’ families (potter communities) are living in Mandosil and Chindaguda villages, about five kilometers from Khariar town in Nuapada district, and are struggling hard these days to keep the wolf from their doors.
Two to three decades ago, they used to feel proud as it was their inhabitation that earned ‘kumhar pada’ monikers to their villages. Now, the same mention of ‘kumhar pada’ brings no charm to them for, they argue, they have lost a large part of their business to plastic and steel materials which have flooded the market.
“Earthen pots of different shapes with different names like ‘handi’, ‘mathia’ and ‘surei’ used to be high in demand in summer as they have an inherent feature to keep the water cool. Nowadays, they have no takers as they are opting for plastic filters,” said Rohit Rana, a terracotta artisan.
These people are equally skillful at manufacturing pantiles. But pantile roofs are also hard to find in villages.
At the same time they are also dealing with another blow. This is poor availability of raw materials. Most of the families have switched over to terracotta.
Khariar block industrial promotion officer (IPO) Anand Kumar Behera held the artisans squarely responsible for their poor performances. He said, “These artisans should have taken advantages of the training camps, programs and schemes the government is arranging and launching from time to time.”
PNN