With time, traditional pottery industry is losing its magnificence in the district and elsewhere in the country. It is disappearing gradually.
The centuries-old pottery industry is in crisis today due to a number of problems and lack of patronage. Some veteran potters have blamed widely-used plastic products for the rapid disappearance of earthen items.
It seems that the day is not very far away when the pottery items can only be seen in the museum. However, potters in Chandpur have vowed to restore the industry. They have urged the government to preserve their ancestral profession.
Once, pottery of Chandpur district was renowned across Bangladesh. Potters of this area used to remain busy from dawn to dusk in making various potteries like pitchers, plates, flower vase and glass, among others, to meet people's demand.
But now, potters are not as busy as before. Many of them have changed their profession, as well. Due to random use of plastic and melamine items, the earthen items are currently of no use at all.
A few people use these items only. At present, only curd makers and gardeners are seen to use earthen pots and tubs for their business purposes.
In the hundred-year-old Paler Bazar in Chandpur district town, there is now only one pottery shop.
According to Nani Gopal Paul, 60, and his brother Swapan Paul, 55, pottery is their ancestral occupation and their family has been involved in it for more than 100 years.
"We're still in this profession because we do not know anything else," said Nani Gopal Paul.
"Many young people of our community have started doing other businesses and work since there is no future in this industry," he added.
Mohammad Munnaf Majhi, 58, a businessman of pottery items, said that even today pottery items have high demand if they are modified and coloured.
"I sell around Tk 5,000 to 6,000 every day by selling coloured pottery items on my rickshaw-van in front of Chandpur Government College. These potteries are not cheap," he added.
Another such shop has been found near Hasan Ali Govt High School. It is run by a young man, Fazlur Rahman Khan.
"I sell coloured earthen sculptures of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rabindranath Tagore and others. And they have high demand," he told The Financial Express.
He buys these items from an organisation in the district's Puranbazar. These items are mainly shipped from Dhaka and Barishal.
In Puranbazar of the town, there are only two pottery shops while in Natunbazar, there is only one pottery shop.
For want of a marketing policy, pottery items are disappearing fast from markets. For this reason, the pottery traders and makers are changing their professions.
If banks give us some financial support, the pottery industry can flourish again," said veteran potter Swapan Paul.
"Pottery items are good for health. They are never harmful for health," he added.
