Thrown out of job, Tangail’s chamcham makers pass hard days
Around 1000 workers engaged in producing chamcham, a famous delicacy of Tangail, are passing hard days since closure of the sweet shops that sell the item due to lockdown imposed to contain the outbreak of Covid-19.
The district administration on March 22 ordered closure of all shops selling 'non-essential' items in the town.
Consequently, the chamcham traders at Paach Ani Bazar, the largest market of the traditional sweetmeat, lost their regular earning as well as the quite profitable
business expected during Bangla New Year Pahela Baishakh.
In addition to meeting the demand of local market, around 100 maunds (a maund = 40 kg) of chamcham is daily supplied to different districts including Dhaka in usual times, local traders said.
As the chamcham shops are closed due to the lockdown, the workers related to the trade have become jobless and are passing hard days with their family members, they said.
During a recent visit, this correspondent saw that most of the sweet shops that sell chamcham at Paach Ani Bazar remained closed while a few small shops were selling some iftar items.
Abdul Jabbar, worker of a chamcham shop at Paach Ani Bazar, said he is passing hard time with his family members as he has no income after closure of the shop over a month ago.
"The shop owners did not give us any monetary help as their business stopped. We did not get any support from our association either," he said.
"The makers of famous chamcham serve as daily wage-based workers. Since the lockdown, I have been maintaining my family with money borrowed from others," said Saiful Islam, another chamcham worker at the market.
Jahirul Islam, an employee of a chamcham shop, also a leader of the workers, said, "Some of the workers have got food items from the district administration and a leader of our association, but it is not enough. Most of the workers did not get any support."
The solvent chamcham traders and shop owners did not stand beside the poor employees, he added.
Mirza Masud Rubel, general secretary of Tangail District Restaurants and Sweet Shop Owners Association, said around 200 maunds (a maund = 40 kg) of sweets, mostly chamcham, is produced in Tangail daily during the normal situation.
"But the sweet production remains shut due to the coronavirus outbreak and the jobless workers are facing food crisis. The support from the district administration is far below the requirement. I and several other restaurant owners provide some help to the employees, which is too scanty to meet their need during the crisis period," he said.
Closure of sweet production also led to fall in demand and price of milk, an essential ingredient for sweet making.
Earlier, a kg of milk was sold for Tk 60 to Tk 70 but the price has dropped to Tk 30 to Tk 40.
Dalimon Begum, a milk trader of Porabari in Tangail Sadar upazila, said, "Now I am selling milk at Tk 40 per kg while prices of a kg of bhushi (cattle feed) is Tk 45. How can we maintain our cows and survive in such a situation?"
Comments