<i>Eid shopping: Tangail saris all the rage</i>

Traders sell handloom saris at Bazidpur market in Tangail Sadar upazila. Demand for saris is rising ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja.Photo: STAR

Traders have seen a jump in sales of saris in Tangail ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja.
Pathrail, the hub of Tangail handloom saris, has pulled in hundreds of traders, including Indians. Many traders from West Bengal have opened LCs to buy Tangail saris that have become a hit in India.
“Ahead of Durga Puja, traders from West Bengal have bought over two lakh pieces of sari in Pathrail, Bazidpur, Balla and Karatia in Tangail,” said Raghunath Basak, president of Tangail Tant Sari Traders' Association.
“Around 10 lakh pieces of sari were supplied to different city markets in Bangladesh,” Basak added.
Prices range from Tk 200 to Tk 10,000 apiece. Jute cotton and jute silk saris, made from jute yarn, have been introduced as new designs for Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja -- priced between Tk 3,200 and Tk 7,000.
Prolhad Basak, who came to Pathrail from Kolkata, told The Daily Star that a Tk 400 Tangail sari could be sold at Rs 400 (Tk 570) back home.
Bivas Saha, a trader of Shiliguri in India, said an increasing number of people in his area prefer Tangail saris to the Indian ones which inspired him to buy products from here.
A wholesaler from Sylhet, Saidur Rahman, said he would buy more saris than before, as Tangail saris are preferred over foreign peers.
Meantime, special security measures have been taken for traders in Tangail. Mostofa Manzur Mahmud, officer-in-charge of Delduar Police Station, said the police have arranged a 24-hour patrolling in the area.
But weavers expressed disappointment over an abnormal hike in prices of yarn, the key raw material for sari.
“The prices of yarn soared at least 20 percent, but the prices of saris have not -- as much,” one of the weavers said.
The weavers blamed a syndicate for hiking the yarn prices just before the two festivities, the peak season for sales.
Md Mostofa, a weaver from Balla, said he had been compelled to shut 13 out of 36 handlooms in his factories due to a shortage of workers.