Ratna Bharali Talukdar

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

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Every
morning, country boats from different chars – small islands prone to constant
erosion and submergence – on the Brahmaputra river ferry daily wage earners to
Dhubri town of Dhubri district in Assam. Bamboo logs tied as temporary rafts from
the neighbouring state of Meghalaya also arrive here, floating down to the
confluence of the Gadadhar tributary and the Brahmaputra in Dhubri. 

But a
livelihood crisis is brewing at this confluence. The demand for split bamboos
has declined over the last two decades. These bamboos are used for making
fences, panels, bamboo walls and wooden plyboard. But many living on the chars
and elsewhere in Assam are shifting from traditional thatched and bamboo houses
to innovative folding houses made of tin roofs and tin walls, to cope with the
constant floods and erosion.  The demand
for split bamboos has also declined in West Bengal and Bihar, where too
alternatives such as brick or tin are increasingly used for building low-cost
houses.

Mainuddin Pramanik, 35, comes to Dhubri every day from Kuntir char.
He is a father of four, who earns an income by meticulously splitting the
bamboos with a machete – a task locally called basher kaaj. He splits on
average 20 bamboos over eight hours to earn Rs. 250 every day. Mainuddin is one
of many such bamboo workers, who are brought here by local contractors. Not
much work is available now, he says, hardly half-a-year of work days.

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The labourers tie the split bamboos with ropes and stack the bundles at the worksite, to be later loaded onto trucks and other vehicles for transportation. Split bamboos require large storage spaces. They weather fast, which depreciates their market value; the bamboo can then only be sold as fuel-wood at a low price.

The steady
demand for split bamboos on the chars has declined because people living on
the shifting islands now prefer innovative folding houses of tin, which are
more durable and can be shifted easily during the frequent floods or when the char erodes
and forces them to move.














In
the past, the forest department purchased large quantities of specially woven
bamboo fences to protect plantations in the state. Now the department uses iron
or plastic fencing nets.  This too has
contributed to the declining demand for split bamboos.

The contractor makes the payments on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the local market days. Mainuddin’s contractor, Radhakrishna Mandal (extreme right), purchases bamboos from Meghalaya for Rs. 10 per piece and engages Mainuddin and seven others to split them. Until around four years ago, Mandal supplied at least two truckloads of split bamboos every month to states like West Bengal and Bihar. Now, he says, he supplies only one truckload in two months. Four ferry ghats in Dhubri town connect over 350 chars – at all four, bamboo-splitting is a common activity and means of livelihood. At least seven contractors run their businesses at each ghat.

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Though
the trade is stagnating, Mainuddin has no other work options. Most other
daily-wage jobs – loaders, porters, rickshaw-pullers, garage helpers and others – at the confluence are saturated
with labourers from the 350 chars seeking work.

The bamboo-splitters of Dhubri

বাঁশ চিরে দিন গুজরান ধুবড়ির শ্রমিকদের

துப்ரியின் மூங்கில் தொழிலாளர்கள்

ଧୁବ୍ରିର ବାଉଁଶ ଚିରାଳି

धुबरी जिला के बांस काटने वाले

धुबरीचे बांबू कारागीर

دھوبری ضلع کے بانس کاٹنے والے

ধুবুৰীৰ বাঁহৰ চোঁচৰ কাম কৰা শ্ৰমিকসকল

Dhubri town

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The bamboo-splitters of Dhubri

Mainuddin Pramanik of Kuntir island on the Brahmaputra in Assam comes to Dhubri town every day to work as a bamboo-splitter. But the trade is in decline and few other options are available to daily wage workers

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