Power outages: bright time for lamp makers
Ranjan Adhikari and his son Shimul Adhikari are busy making lamps in front of their home in Arpara village under the Kaliganj upazila of Jhenidah. Photo: Azibor Rahman
Business is quite bright now for lamp makers in Jhenidah. Kerosene lamp sales have increased manifolds in the area. With demand for lamps so high this year, the workers are racing against time to deliver orders.
With prosperity in business, the workers are earning much more than in previous years. The reason behind their high sales figure is acute load shedding in the area.
With electricity outages much more frequent, these businesses are supplying lamps in not only Jhenidah but also neighbouring districts.
At least 25 families in the Arpara village under Kaliganj upazila occupy themselves during this season in lamp making.
Their lamps too sell like hot cakes for the power outages all over the country and also because electricity has not spread in the remote villages like in the towns and its outskirts.
A mere 25 families in Jhenidah make lamps that make way to homes in districts all across the country.
Pots and cans of different shapes, like the mosquito repellent spray (aerosol) cans and condensed milk tins, are used to make these lamps. These pots are collected from Dhaka at low prices.
Lamp makers say they need a few more raw materials to make the lamps -- sulpher acid, coal, lead, and borax.
An average family makes over 200 lamps a day, while larger families make about 300-400 a day.
They incur a cost of Tk 4.5 to make a small lamp, which they sell for Tk 8-Tk 10, while the larger ones cost Tk 8-Tk 9 and sell for Tk 11-Tk 12.
The larger lamps are mostly used in fish markets when electricity is out.
About 30 poor housewives and 15 female students make lamps in their free time and add to the earnings of the household. The trade has in many ways brought about positive changes in the area as female students can purchase school supplies with the extra money they earn, thus making them able to contribute to their education.
Ranjan Adhikari of Arpara village and his son Shimul Adhikari make at least 200 lamps everyday.
Shimul helps out his father in between his school and assignments. He is a student of grade nine. His father however says they could have made many more lamps if his son did not attend school.
Lamp maker Sachin Kumar makes 200 lamps a day, earning enough to meet his family expenses. He says he is happy with his small business.
Lamps made here make way to many districts including Chapainababganj, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Faridpur, Khulna, Kushtia, Magura, Jessore and Jhenidah, he said. However, the number of lamps made everyday is not enough to meet demand all around the country, he added.
Kumari Rupa Rani, a student of class nine in Salimunnessa Girls' School, said she makes lamps as her father is a poor vegetable seller. He can not bear her educational expenses. So she makes at least 20 lamps a day from which she earns Tk 50.
Housewife Bithika Rani from Arpara village said she makes lamps when she has completed her household duties. She says the few extra bucks help her to make ends meet.
Grocer Abul Kashem of Jhenidah town said he is happy with sales this year for the frequent power outages.
Another vegetable seller, Kader Ali, in Kaliganj Natun Bazar said electricity is out for most parts of the evening. “But we have to run our business, and so we light up the larger lamps.”
Wholesale lamp trader Swapan Kumar of Kushtia said the lamps made here are of good quality. He comes about three times a week and purchases 2,000 lamps to sell in different markets in Kushtia and Magura.
He bags good profits as he sells a small lamp at Tk 9-Tk 10 and the larger ones for Tk 18-Tk 20.
Ex-Mosharref Hossain, commissioner of Arpara ward, said the lamp makers in the area are quite cheery this year as they are solvent in business.
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