Union Place, Colombo:

Key cutters' hub

By Ananda KANNANGARA

Key cutters are our life savers in a way. Their humble profession is valuable, because in many instances we need their services when there is a need to cut a duplicate key - it may be the front door key or an almirah key, the gate key or even a key for the vehicle. These key cutters earn a pittance, sometimes just enough to keep the wolf from the door but they render an invaluable service to the community.

Union Place in Colombo maybe the oldest key cutting spot in the city. Many people, mainly office workers who pass by everyday see them getting about their business from the break of dawn.

When people lose door keys, drawer keys, cupboard or almirah keys or vehicle keys, they make a beeline to Union Place to spot a key cutter. Many people in the city are of the view that these key cutters down Union Place are reliable as they are always there even if something goes wrong.

They never cheat customers by giving customers keys that are of low quality, even though they charge a pittance. They have original keys and substandard keys. The low quality keys are sold at cheap rates.

A father of two daughters, Ayub Zaid who also runs his key cutting business at Union Place and said he very often inserted newspaper advertisements to find customers .

“One day a man from Dehiwala asked me to come to his residence to open the gate of his house. He promised to give me Rs. 2,500 but when I went there,he asked me to open the front door as he had lost the bunch of keys.

While I was trying to open the front door an old person who was inside the house started screaming saying that rogues were trying to enter the house. On hearing the noise, neighbours came out and caught us.

They handed us over to the Dehiwala Police. We were in police custody. Two days later I was released but the other person was kept back.”

Zaid said the person who had asked him to come to Dehiwala was a well-known rogue in that area and had made use of the advertisements in the newspapers. Thereafter, he had stopped advertising in the newspapers.

Rasi Sivagurun who is also a key cutter from Slave Island. He related an incident regarding a key of a vehicle.

one day a young man took me to a vehicle park near the Bambalapitiya Railway Station.

He said his key was inside the vehicle and asked me to open the front door of the vehicle. I opened the door and got Rs. 500 from him. I asked him to check whether the key was inside.

He said he would look for the key and asked me to leave. As I suspected that he was upto something, I complained to the vehicle park owners. They promptly visited the spot with me and saw the person trying to remove parts of the car.

They caught the person and later released him without handing him over to the police. When I asked them why they did not inform the police, they said it would bring negative publicity and people would then not park here.

A middle-aged key cutter, Nazeer from Bambalapitiya said one day he opened a bag which was brought by a schoolboy and later it was revealed that the bag belonged to a teacher of the school.

The boy had stolen a small bag which contained some gold jewellery belonging to the teacher. The teacher then came on the following day with the boy and a policeman and I related what happened to the policeman.

“Thereafter, I took a decision not to open bags brought to me by youngsters,” he said.

Unlike many other service providers, these people render a silent service. They are at their job sometimes for more than ten hours a day. Most of them are on the city pavements, while some have their little stalls under trees or close to bus shelters.

A long-standing key cutter in Union Place, Imthiyas Illyas said key cutting is not an easy business. Unlike many other businesses, people only seek their service once or twice in their lifetime, thus he says business is hard to come by.

A resident of Vauxhall Street in Slave Island, Illyas is married and is a father. He said he has been engaged in the key cutting business for the past 38 years.

According to Illyas, earlier 25 key cutters did business on either side of Union Place several years ago.

But, at present not more than ten people are engaged in this traditional business at Union Place. Many of them had either to give up the business or seek other places to start it, because the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) wanted them to evacuate.

Illyas said the CMC should provide a suitable place at Union Place with galvanized sheds, so that they could do their business without any hindrance.

He said a few people run their business near shops or in vehicle parks at Union Place, others do business under the shade of trees and on pavements, but the police are after them and asking them to move away. His daily income depends on the number of customers and on some days he earns between Rs.800 to Rs. 1,200.

A middle-aged key cutter, H.L.M. Sherifdeen said he has been in the business for the past 30 years and earned about Rs.400 to Rs. 500 a day. He said he earns over Rs.1,500 during weekends.

Sherifdeen said some customers took them to their houses to open drawers and doors, when they misplace the keys.

He said all key cutters buy new keys from dealers and dealers import them from India, Singapore and Bangkok.

A 45-year-old key cutter, P.B. Deen said he has been in the business at Union Place for the past 28 years and wanted the authorities to provide them permanent places in Union Place, so that customers were sure that they never changed premises.

He said if the CMC provides permanent sheds along Union Place, they were prepared to make a payment every month. Forty-two-year-old, P.R. Subai said he started the key cutting business at the age of 25 and urged the CMC to give permanent places in the city to carry on the business.

”Although we had permanent spots several years ago at Darley Road, our shops were suddenly demolished by the CMC saying that they were unauthorised structures,”.

A 44-year-old key cutter in Darley Road, A.G.A. Rauff said he has been in the key cutting business for the past 26 years and requested the Police not to obstruct them.

Meanwhile, Forty-six year-old Rauff Deen was happy with his business and said that he has been in the business for the past 25 years.

He said he earns about Rs.1,500 a day and on some days he earned about Rs.2,000