The dense fog in the early mornings is already signaling the arrival of winter. It has started getting cold in the rural areas of the country.
The sale of winter clothes has already increased in Dinajpur Sadar. On the other hand, the quilt makers of Dinajpur, locally known as ‘Dhunuris’ are in trouble now.
Every year in winter, quilt makers get orders of producing quilts. As the demand for blankets increases compared to quilt, Dhunuris do not get such orders anymore.
Earlier, a Dhunuri used to earn around Tk 30,000 to 40,000 every year during the winter season. That income has now gone down to the lowest amount at present.
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Dhunuris of Dinajpur have received about half the orders for making quilts this year compared to last year
According to the quilt makers, the main reason behind this is that every year many traders from outside bring blankets and sell them moving from home to home in Dinajpur.
As a result, buyers are getting more attracted to fancy blankets than to the quilts made by them, they believe.
Kamal Kanta Dev, a cotton trader at Mahdahapatti in Dinajpur city, said there was a demand for cotton quilt on various occasions besides ahead of the winter.
However, now people prefer blankets over quilts. For which the business of Dhunuris has come to a standstill now, he added.
The same picture has been observed in the remaining 12 upazilas including Dinajpur city. The Dhuniri are now going through a bad phase now.
In North Bengal, Bengali month Ashwin-Kartik is said to be the months of financial crisis. In these two months, the incomes of the people of North Bengal grow less and less. The people of the region remain in extreme financial crisis during this time. This time day laborers, village doctors and quilt are suffering the most financial crisis.