In Nabinagar of Brahmanbaria, boat making and sales have started in different villages of the upazila during the rainy season. Due to this, the carpenters are spending their busy time in making seasonal boats in the area.
As the monsoon season is ongoing and water levels rising, the value of kosha and dingy boats increases several times in the village for household work and for crossing the river and for cattle feed. Due to this, a temporary market for making and selling canoes and kosha boats has developed.
Every day buyers from far and wide in different areas of the upazila buy their favorite boats from here. Almost villages of Nabinagar upazila surrounded by Titus, Meghna and Buri rivers are flooded by monsoon. When the monsoon season comes, the people of this area use boats as a means of transportation. In the riverside villages of the upazila, school going students travel to school by boat. Monsoon fishermen are busy fishing day and night with boats.
On the surface, it has been seen that in the upazila, Sadek Pur, Ayatla, Manipur, Chitri Char Lapang, there is a boom in making boats or trawlers suitable for fishing and movement. Someone is repairing his old boat or wooden trawler. Some are building new boats or some are refurbishing used fishing boats with paint and tar. According to boat owners and craftsmen, hundreds of new boats are being built in Nabinagar this year. Boats are being used in villages such as Alamnagar, Lapang, Shivpur, Bangra, Sriraghar, Khagatua, Lahri, Radhanagar etc. for ages. Almost every house in these villages has a boat for commuting during this monsoon season. Once upon a time, sailing boats used to ply in these areas during the monsoon season. Jewelery and dinghy boats were used to carry goods to different haat markets.
Madhu Sutradhar of Ratanpur Union of Nabinagar Upazila said, I have been making boats with my father since childhood. When the monsoon comes, boat building work increases. No particular wood is specifically used for making boats. Earlier I used to make boats with good wood, now I make more boats with kadai, chambal and mahogany. In addition to wood, kerosene, tar, tarcata, ghazal, patam etc. are needed to make boats. One can build a dinghy boat per day. It costs 7,800 taka to make a boat with two hands and it is sold for fifteen thousand taka. A small dinghy costs 5 thousand taka to make and sells for 7 to 8 thousand taka.
Abnir Nath Ajoy of the village said, like every year, we have started making boats before the start of the monsoon season. I have already received many orders.
He also said that I have sold more than two hundred boats in the last year. It takes 4 masons one day to make a boat 10 cubits long and 3 cubits wide. This year, because the price of wood and construction materials is high, it has to be sold at a high price.