Tangail artisans frustrated over low wages for making Durga

With Durga Puja just a couple of weeks away, Idol makers in Tangail are passing busy time making the clay sculptures of goddess Durga for the biggest religious festival for Hindu community.

The five-day long festival will commence from October 4 across the country.

The artisans already finished shaping the sculptures and now busy giving the finishing touch and adorning the goddess Durga in the best possible ways.

However, the artisans are dissatisfied with the wages they are getting for making the idols.

Idol maker Nikhil Pal said, "Making idols have become costlier as prices of raw materials have increased significantly."

Several Idol makers said that earlier, they used to get Tk1-1.5 lakh from each of the temples for making idols. Now, they get Tk1 lakh. 

However, they claimed that raw materials' prices have doubled up in the last five years.

Expressing frustration, Rani Pal, wife of artisan Tapos Pal, said, "We will not encourage our children to stay in this profession. Instead, we will inspire them to choose another profession."

Alak Kumar, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Mohajot in Tangail, demanded adequate security measures during the festival including three-day long public holiday.  

Superintendent of Police of the district, Ranjit Kumar said, "The puja will be held in around 1,200 mandaps in the district like last year. And adequate numbers of law enforcers will be deployed to avoid any kind of unpleasant incident during the festival."