Tuesday was celebrated simultaneously as Pahela Phalgun and World Valentine's Day. Keeping these two days ahead, the shopkeepers have arranged flower stalls in the rush of Sirajganj. While the shop is mainly in demand for roses, it also sells marigolds, rosin, gypsies, headbands, cherries and gladiolus.
But this time, all the flowers have to be bought at double the price, the buyers complain. Moreover, the sellers say that although the flowers are sufficient, the demand of the buyers is very low.
It was found that the price of a rose was 15 to 20 taka. It is being sold at 35 to 40 taka this year. The price of Rajnigandha was 8 to 10 Tk. But wholesellers increased the price and has to sell it at 15 to 20 Tk this year. A gladiolus was priced at 18 to 20 Tk. It has to be sold at 25 to 30 Tk this year. The price per 100 piles was 35 taka. It is being sold at 50 Tk this year. Each zarbera was sold at Tk 20 this year but last year it was sold at Tk 8 to Tk 10 on this day. Again, the flower shop is selling each head band for 150 taka this year. Which last year was 100 to 120 taka.
At this time, a young woman named Marina came to Bandhan Flower House to buy flowers in the upazila municipal area. Alleging that the price of flowers is too high, he said that they are selling each rose for 40 Tk. Seeing the demand of the people, they have increased the price. In addition, the price of rosary, orchid, marigold, belli flower garlands is much higher. Bidyut Kumar, another flower buyer, complained that since the demand for flowers increases around Valentine's Day, the sellers increase the price of flowers several times by exploiting this demand.
Acknowledging that the price of flowers is higher than last year, Gopal Sarkar, the owner of Sajal Flower House, said that such flowers are not grown in our region. We painstakingly collect flowers from different places including Dhaka, Jashore, Bogura. Sometimes the flowers are also wasted. For this reason, I sell flowers at a slightly higher price on special days.
This time the demand of the buyer is very low. But Pahela Phalgun, a large part of the buyers of World Valentine's Day are school-college students.
Now that the educational institution is open. I expect some profit in the business.