Home ›› 31 Aug 2021 ›› Nation
For centuries, people in Paikpara in Tongibari of Munshiganj are making their livelihoods out of weaving Shital Pati, a traditional ‘cool mat made from the barks of Schumannianthus dichotomus, popularly known as Murta, plants.
The village Paikpara earned fame as Patikar Gram, village of mat weavers, in the locality, where around 90 Hindu families are still involved in weaving the mats and their monthly turnover was around Tk 25 to Tk 30 lakh before the pandemic.
The Covid-induced lockdowns have reversed the scenario as these weaver families could not produce and sell their products.
Local artisans said Murta, the raw material for weaving Shital Pati, does not grow in Munshiganj and they used to collect it from Sylhet.
For weaving an average size mat, it requires two bundles of Murta that cost Tk 200 and the production cost for a mat reaches to Tk 350 to Tk 400, said Javed Kar and Jhunu Rani De, weavers of the village.
Price of one Shital Pati ranges between Tk 500 to Tk 3000 based on their material, design, size, and quality, said weaver Muhit Rajbangshi. “But, we can hardly make a profit of Tk 50 to Tk 100 from a single mat,” he said.
“I have inherited the craftsmanship from my ancestors like many other weavers in this village. The series of Covid-19-induced lockdown in the past two years forced many of the weavers to leave this profession. The remaining others are also thinking of quiting it as it become very difficult to continue with little to no sales,” said Muhit.
Shital Pati weaver Rani Bala told The Business Post that once traders from all over the country used to come to their village to buy their products. Also, they used to make a good sell of mats at the local haats. Now Rani Balal is in a severe financial crisis as their product drastically lost its demand.
Septuagenarian Kalpana Rani Dey weaves Shital Pati for the past four decades. She told The Business Post that her entire family is involved in this profession. “We used to sell two to three mats every day. If we can sell even one mat in a week now, we consider us to be fortunate,” said Kalpana.
Mat vendor Shanto Dey said, “I used to sell 15 to 20 mats every day. Now, I leave home at dawn with a hope of selling at least five mats, but I can hardly sell one or two mats at much lower prices.”
He also said that the demand for Shital Pati is decreasing as plastic-made mats are getting more popular among the buyers for their low price.
As the situation has worsened for the weavers, 15 to 20 weaver families shift to Sylhet for three to four months (April to September) every year to work for brokers there and get paid upon completion of their targeted production, said Gopal Chandra Dey, one such weaver.
“Each weaver earns around Tk 50,000 to Tk 60,000 each season in Sylhet, and they use it to buy raw materials. They invest the money and make more mats to survive for the rest of the year,” said Gopal.
Wholesale traders used to crowd the area to buy these mats and distribute those across the country but after the spread of the Covid-19 all such activities came to halt, Gopal added.
Tongibari Upazila Nirbahi Officer Nahida Parvin told The Business Post that they had provided loans, cash assistance, training, sewing machines to these families to support them in this challenging situation.
“We have already informed the government about their situation. I hope their issues would be addressed soon. However, if they need further assistance, we will surely help them again,” she added.
