Small traders, wholesalers, orphanages worst-hit by rawhide price fall in Sylhet

SYLHET, Aug 18: Wholesalers, small traders as well as the Kaumi madrasas and orphanages are worst- hit this year due to the steep fall in rawhide price in Syleht region.

The small traders and madrasa people were not even offered minimum price for the rawhides collected on the Eid day and day after in the region. Same was the situation in rural areas with no buyer at all.

Although the rawhides' retail market had been dull for the last few years, the experience was totally different this time, traders claimed.

Many madrasas and locals had to abandon the rawhides here and there or dumped those at places. For cleaning the city areas, the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) itself had to collect and dump at least 10 tonnes of abandoned skins to their dumping site.

Shahjalal Chamra Baybosayee Samity, Sylhet President Shamim Ahmed told this correspondent on Sunday, "This year we collected 20 per cent less than that of the last years. Still we don't know what would happen after preliminary processing of those at last."

There are 60 wholesalers and 200 traders in Sylhet. They couldn't buy raw hides mainly due to fund shortage as Tk 150 million remained unpaid by the tannery owners in the capital for years. We didn't get payment against the last year's supply even", he added.

Meanwhile, Ahea Khan Muhtamim, principal of Abu Huraira Hafizia Madrasa in Dhopagul area in Sylhet, said, "Failing to sell 146 skins, we gave those to a man for initial processing with salt on loss-profit sharing. We have to spend about Tk 0.4 million every month for 250 students and 14 teachers in the hostel. Generally we can meet one month's expense from the sacrificial animals' skin. The rest is managed from people's donation."

Quasimul Ulum Madrasa, on the premises of Hajrat Shahjalal (RA)'s shrine, one of the largest ones in the region would also suffer this time.

A senior teacher said, "We got 1,200 raw skins this year and sold all of them for cash. The madrasa spends Tk 1.2 million to Tk 1.3 million per month for its 800 students. Rawhide contributes much to meet the expenditure, but this year it cannot meet even one month's expenses."

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