Good days for Chalan Beel boat makers

When monsoon rains rejuvenate the Chalan Beel wetland that covers parts of Pabna, Sirajganj and Natore districts each year, boats become the most convenient and, at times of flooding, the only practical transport. It's good news for the area's seasonal and year-round boat builders. While the rains last boats are in peak demand.

“I usually make furniture,” says Sagor Hossain from Mirzapur in Pabna's Chatmohar upazila. “From furniture I can make up to Tk 450 per day but during the monsoon months I switch to building boats since I can earn handsomely. My income rises to as much as Tk 1,000 per day.”

Sagor is not alone. Many local furniture-makers become boat builders once the rainy season arrives. A six to ten-foot long boat in Mirzapur's market currently retails for between Tk 2,000 to Tk 4,000 and, according to boat trader Md Abdul Mannan, as many as 500 new boats are sold in the market weekly from about early June, when many areas adjoining the beel submerge.

“When the monsoon season begins we worry about transport over the coming months,” says one local, Md Abdur Rashid from Choto Bishkhali village in the same upazila, who has come to Mirzapur to buy a boat. “Many areas submerge every year. This year additional floods have made the situation even more critical. Roads have been impassable for the past two weeks which has persuaded me to buy a new boat.”

Many people buy new boats every year since the ones from the previous monsoon season are often damaged during the intervening months, he adds. It's a reality that keeps more than one hundred boat builders busy across the Chalan Beel area.