Khagrachhari Correspondent :
Owners of at least 85 handlooms in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are making a good profit as they are selling locally produced clothes and handicrafts in handsome prices.
Bangladesh Small Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), Khagrachhari office sources said there are about 85 handlooms based textiles in the CHT comprising Rangamati and Khagrachhari districts and at least one thousand waist loom based textile enterprises in the houses of indigenous people at 26 upazilas of CHT.
Indigenous people are capable of weaving cloth like Lunghi, Gamcha, Scarf, Muffler, hand and leg socks, Khaddar cloth, saris, Pinon, Thami (indigenous dress), bed sheet, thaan cloth, warm cloth and different show-pieces for house decoration, the sources said.
Khagrachhari Chamber of Commerce and Industry Director Sudarsan Dutta said around one hundred handloom business centres have been operating activities in CHT. The business centres can sell items worth Tk 45-50 lakh per day, the profit of which mostly goes to local indigenous stakeholders.
Moreover, the handloom and handicraft businessmen can easily make 30 per cent profit on total sale as the products are colorful, smart and of better quality than other products in the country or abroad, Sudarsan added.
Buyers from Chittagong, Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar, Comilla, Feni, Noakhali and other parts of the country come to CHT to buy local hand made products, said Mohammad Yunus, owner of Monika Cloth store in Khagrachhari town.
Supta Chakma, owner of Jhumline Handicrafts in Khagrachhari Bazar told the correspondent that besides mitigating locals demands they can also exporting local clothes to others parts of the country.
The indigenous people collect cotton at a cost of Tk 250-270 from local markets in CHT. They use machines (both handloom and waist loom) by which they weave clothes and other handicraft, she added.
Both handloom and waist loom machines are made with local bamboos and local woods, she confirmed.
Anupru Marma, a weaver from Golabari under Khagrachhari town said after making clothes, chador, bags or other cottage items at their dwelling places, they take them to Boyon, Hill Fashion, Banarashi, Paharika, Adhunika, Tungha, Jhumline and Bain.
District Manager of Khagrachhari BSCIC Shohebul Haidar said these local textiles and business centres have now turned into the shelter of unemployed men or women.
“Most of our products were made by local indigenous people, who has been selling products among handicraft centres and become financially benefited,” he said.
