Blacksmiths: men of the hour
The blacksmiths in the port city have been passing busy days ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, making and sharpening tools for sacrificial animals.
Besides cattle markets, the people are approaching different blacksmiths shops to buy machetes, choppers, cleavers and different sizes of knives where workers are preparing iron-made tools to attract customers.
When visiting several blacksmith shops in Chattogram's Lal Dhigi's Jail Road, Choumuhuny, Riazuddin Bazar, Muradpur, Bakalia-Kalamia Bazar, Halishahar-Boropol and EPZ area, this correspondent found all of them extremely busy. Even at the last minute, a large number of people were seen thronging the shops to buy new, ready-made tools.
Sixty-year-old Ajoy Karmakar, whose shop is on Nayabazar's Dhaka Trunk Road of Nayabazar, told this correspondent that they have made different kinds and sizes of tools depending on the customers' demand.
"The prices of knives start from Tk 150 to Tk 350 per piece, while those of machetes start from Tk 350 to Tk 1200 depending on its size and iron quality," he added.
Siddiq Mia, a 65-year-old blacksmith in Halishahar's Boropol area, said, "Usually there is no rush before Eid-ul-Azha. This year, a month or so before Eid, the demand is growing high."
"As the time is running out fast, we are whetting the tools with electric machines," he added.
Besides blacksmiths' shops, hawkers who sell knives or sharpen sharp tools by visiting door to door are also on a busy schedule.
"The sharpening business will go on around the clock till Eid day. We earn Tk 800-1,000 per job by removing rust from the tools," said Md Mozammel, a mobile vendor at Halishahar.
According to the data provided by livestock officials of Chattogram, around 8 lakh cattle are likely to be sacrificed this Eid.
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