<i>Cashing in on others' woes</i>
Low-income people throng roadside stalls to buy warm clothes for cheap prices at Mogholhat railgate in Lalmonirhat town yesterday as chilling winter has set in with all severity in the northern districts.Photo: STAR
Warm clothe sellers are doing brisk business in the town and other areas of the district as common people continue to shiver with biting cold. Sale of winter clothes has increased in the roadside makeshift shops and different markets in the town in the last few days. Chilly weather is hampering day-to-day jobs of townspeople in different ways while people living in the char areas are the worst victims. People belonging to low and fixed income groups are crowding the makeshift shops to buy warm clothes such as sweaters, jackets, cardigans, woolen caps and mufflers to protect themselves from the biting cold. “I have sold a number of second-hand warm clothes today. Demand for used warm clothes is much higher than the new ones,” said Rajob Ali, owner of a shop at a makeshift market near the Mogholhat railway gate in the town. He said low and fixed income group people including day-labourers, rickshaw-pullers and low paid employees of different government and private organisations are crowding his shop. Mazibor Rahman, a rickshaw puller, who lives in a shanty on the embankment of the Teesta River at Kalmati village said, “We were suffering from severe cold for the last few days. So, I have come to the town to buy some second-hand warm clothes for my family members saving a few bucks from my daily income.” “But the prices of the clothes are much higher compared to the last year's,” he added. Shamsul Haque, who sells second-hand warm clothes including jackets, woolen blazers and pullovers in his shop at the market at Puran Bazar in the town, claimed many well-off people were also buying second-hand products from the market. “Particularly youths are frequently visiting the market to buy different items as their quality and designs are often better than the new ones”, he added. Yaqub Ali, owner of Janata Garments, a shop at Puran Bazar also said, buyers, mostly from low-income groups had been flocking to his shop for the last few days. Ramoni Kanto Barmon, a farm-labourer residing at Roypara in the town said he had bought two woolen sweaters for his children from a vendor on the footpath near the railway station. “Quality of the clothes is very good. They look fresh and are comfortable to wear,” added a beaming Ramoni. Many shopkeepers at different hawker markets of the town claimed that demand for different verities of shawls and woolen blankets are also high this year. Prices of the warm clothes are comparatively higher this year than the last year's, they said.
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