Handloom industry passing hard time
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Our Correspondent
SIRAJGANJ, July 14: The handloom industry in Sirajganj and Pabna districts, once the hub of handloom industry in the country, is passing through a trying time and facing threats of extinction due to lack of patronage, shortage of funds and abnormal price hike of yarn and other inputs.
There are about 25,000 weavers families in 18 upazilas of Sirajganj and Pabna districts. The upazilas are Ullapara, Shahzadpur, Belkuchi, Sirajganj Sadar, Bera. The number of weaver families declined to 8,000 who are still clinging to the profession for their survival while the others have shifted to other professions.
Smuggled Indian cloth, saries and bed sheets are causing serious damage to the industry. Many weavers have been forced to leave their ancestral profession, said weavers Shahin Alam (22) and Abdul Karim (25) of Kalidashganti village in Sadar upazila in Sirajganj district. Shahin added that the handloom Industry of the district had a glorious past. Now the Industry is facing scores of problems as looms and other machinery of industry have become old and worn out on the other hand prices of handloom products like lungi, sari, napkin and bed sheets have gone down in our country. Prices of raw materials, spare parts, wood and iron rods have shot up.
Lack of sheetweavers was also affecting the industry. About 30 per cent housewife of Sirajganj and Pubna districts and the adjoining areas have expressed their preference for foreign saries and bed sheets which they could get at comparatively cheaper prices, source said. On the other hand there was no government patronage to save the industry, some weavers said. As a result the new generation of weaver community was not involving themselves in this industry.
A group of weavers told this correspondent that unless some positive steps were taken by the authorities to supply adequate quantities of yarn and other materials to the weavers directly, they could not run their business at all. There would therefore be no alternative but to close down their business. The price of yarn, machinery parts and other necessary things have increased manifold. Yarn is being sold at taka 205 per kg as against Tk 150. The weavers have urged the authorities concerned to take immediate measures to save the handloom industry and protect weavers families.
SIRAJGANJ, July 14: The handloom industry in Sirajganj and Pabna districts, once the hub of handloom industry in the country, is passing through a trying time and facing threats of extinction due to lack of patronage, shortage of funds and abnormal price hike of yarn and other inputs.
There are about 25,000 weavers families in 18 upazilas of Sirajganj and Pabna districts. The upazilas are Ullapara, Shahzadpur, Belkuchi, Sirajganj Sadar, Bera. The number of weaver families declined to 8,000 who are still clinging to the profession for their survival while the others have shifted to other professions.
Smuggled Indian cloth, saries and bed sheets are causing serious damage to the industry. Many weavers have been forced to leave their ancestral profession, said weavers Shahin Alam (22) and Abdul Karim (25) of Kalidashganti village in Sadar upazila in Sirajganj district. Shahin added that the handloom Industry of the district had a glorious past. Now the Industry is facing scores of problems as looms and other machinery of industry have become old and worn out on the other hand prices of handloom products like lungi, sari, napkin and bed sheets have gone down in our country. Prices of raw materials, spare parts, wood and iron rods have shot up.
Lack of sheetweavers was also affecting the industry. About 30 per cent housewife of Sirajganj and Pubna districts and the adjoining areas have expressed their preference for foreign saries and bed sheets which they could get at comparatively cheaper prices, source said. On the other hand there was no government patronage to save the industry, some weavers said. As a result the new generation of weaver community was not involving themselves in this industry.
A group of weavers told this correspondent that unless some positive steps were taken by the authorities to supply adequate quantities of yarn and other materials to the weavers directly, they could not run their business at all. There would therefore be no alternative but to close down their business. The price of yarn, machinery parts and other necessary things have increased manifold. Yarn is being sold at taka 205 per kg as against Tk 150. The weavers have urged the authorities concerned to take immediate measures to save the handloom industry and protect weavers families.