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Craftsmen busy making boats

  • Enterprenure
  • Lead News
  • 29 May, 2022 16:49:40

Photo: Collected

News Desk: I have been making boats with my father since childhood. Earlier boats were made and sold all year round. Now when it rains, the work of making boats is done. Like every year, we have started making boats before the onset of monsoon season. I make most of the boats with karai, hijal and mahogany. It also takes kerosene, tar, tarkata and ghazal. Every day four people can build a dinghy boat. It costs five thousand rupees to build a small boat and sells for seven to eight thousand rupees. At one time boats were the main and one of the means of communication at Kaliakair in Gazipur district. Ships still carry tradition in the transportation system. Currently, boats are the only means of transportation for people in the low-lying flood prone areas during the monsoon season. Like every year, the makers are busy making and selling boats. This profession is still associated with the lineage. The Sutradhar family has been living in the border area of ​​Chapai Union of the upazila for a long time. They have been making a living by making wooden boats for generations. The boats made here are famous in various low lying areas of the country where waterlogged boats are used. In the low lying waterlogged areas of Kaliakair Upazila, small boats, engine-assembled boats, big fishing boats of fishermen, boat kosha kosha, boats with their elaborate designs have been used in the artificial lake. Their business has been in a slump for the past two years. Although efforts are being made to offset the damage caused by the epidemic, the cost of building boats is increasing due to the rising prices of raw materials and market prices. Compared to other years, this time the boat has to be sold at a much higher price. On the other hand, repair work of old small and big boats and motor boats has been temporarily developed in the river, beel and canal ghat areas of the upazila. Some are building new boats or some are using boats used in water for painting and tar. According to boat owners and artisans, hundreds of boats are being constructed in the upazila this year. Boats have been used in Seemarpara, Banshtali, Haturiachala, Fulbaria, Kauchakuri, Sinabah, Surichala, Srifaltali, Boliadi, Ultopara villages for ages. Most of these villages use boats to travel in the rainy season. At one time sailing boats used to ply in this area during the monsoon season. Large boats and motor boats were used to bring goods to different markets. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tajwar Akram Sakapi Ibn Sajjad said the wooden boat making industry is a good initiative for employment. In order to keep the artisans afloat, different departments of the government have different schemes of training and micro-credit on easy terms. If interested people apply then they will be given all the facilities in phases.

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