With no respite in sight for the diamond industry,one more worker has ended his life in Saurashtra. A 22-year-old resident of Vandalia village in Babara taluka of Rajkot district committed suicide on Wednesday. According to the Babara police,the deceased,identified as Kishor Koli,was taken to the Amreli Civil Hospital on Wednesday afternoon after he reportedly consumed poison. Koli,the only earning member for his family of three,died after receiving a brief treatment. He worked at diamond polishing unit in Babra,whereas his parents have been living at Vandalia. He had been staying with his parents since the Diwali vacation following a slump in the industry. His parents said that Koli was worried over the fact that they were left with no steady income and had no savings," said a police official. Preliminary investigation revealed that Koli was hopeful of the units re-opening in the new year,but lost all the hopes in the last few days. This was the third suicide by a diamond worker within a month in Saurashtra,a hub for diamond polishing units. Earlier,workers in Junagadh district and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district committed suicide. While Amreli and Bhavnagar have nearly 3,000 polishing units,90 per cent of over 10 lakh workforce in Surat,which accounts for polishing of over 95 per cent diamonds in the world,belongs to Saursahtra.
