Cloth traders at Baburhat in Shekeherchar of Narsingdi are in a fix due to ongoing blockade that caused almost 95 percent fall of their daily turnover.
The wholesale merchants are incurring severe losses as the number of customers from different parts of the country has declined drastically.
Moreover, local garment factory owners fear of incurring losses as the volume of production has also been affected badly.
Abdul Barik, vice president of Shekherchar Bazar Baburhat Traders Association (SBBTA), said the market sees turnover on an average Tk7 crore in three days of a week during normal time.
But it has fallen to almost one-fourth of the total amount, he said.
According to sources at SBBTA, there are about 5,000 shops at the market located on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, only an hour drive from the capital.
The Baburhat is one of the biggest traditional wholesale sell-point of local fabrics supplying local fabrics across the country,
Thousands of people are employed with the whole process from spinning yarn, dyeing, marketing, transportation and accessories.
The market is buzzed with gathering of buyers from the country’s different parts, including Rajshahi, Borgra, Sylhet, Barisal, Jamalpur, Bhola, Sirajganj, Brahmibaria, Mymenshing, Kishoreganj, Tangail, Manikganj.
But this correspondent during a visit to the market on Friday found a different scene.
There was no gathering of buyers and sellers, unloading and uploading of goods.
Many shopkeepers were found sleeping in their shops, some were passing time in idleness by reading newspapers and chatting with each others.
“We are victims of nasty politics of the political parties. Our trading has fallen down almost to zero as buyers can not come to the market due to the blockade,” said Tamal Das, a trader at the market.
“We have not to do but incurring losses now,” he said.
Sankar Saha, a sales person at Pakija Fabrics Show Room, said they were facing difficulties to pay salaries to their employees due to low turnover.
Abdullah Al Mamun, president of Narsingdi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (NCCI), said: “We the garment factory owners produce clothes as per the demand of buyers.”
The productions at the factories has been declined due to the ongoing political tuirmoil in the country, he said urging that the country’s political
parties stop enforcing blockades and hartals for shake of the country’s economy.
