The Silver Rush

Sheets of aluminium are cradled softly by expert hands, which transform it into kitchen utensils to be used around the country. Forged by fire, but ever so gently, the delicate nature of the entire operation is an absolute juxtaposition, in and of itself. Around a 100 such aluminium factories can be found in the capital’s Shyampur. While demand for the finished products remain high and the prices competitive, the famous trickle-down principle fails here as well. Workers are forced to work the aluminium without any protective gears. Their daily grind, which lasts eight hours, only gets them around Tk 300 – 500 per day. Injuries don’t result in instant compensation. The land of silver is lawless. And the silver-coated hands tell almost the same tale of blackened hands of coal-miners of the old: a story of exploitation, which benefits a whole mass of people.

Photo: Anisur Rahman