Sambalpur: There are few earning opportunities in Chhattisgarh while they can easily find two square meals a day in Orissa, say nomadic broom sellers from Bilaspur in the neighbouring district.
Though the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government claim to have launched multiple projects for the growth of tribals, they hardly reach the real beneficiaries, family members of Sapura Bai, who have settled down temporarily along a national highway near the town here, said.
Even as they don’t get any government aid and have to fight the influx of plastic items, several families of Chhattisgarh manage to eke out a living by adopting the age-old profession of making brooms from date leaves.
“I have been making brooms for nearly 40 years and our hand-made items sell much better in Orissa,” Jiten Shikari of Bilaspur said.
They collect date leaves from Govindpur forest at the border of Jharsuguda district and the whole family carries them on their shoulders from place to place to make brooms, Jiten added.
With plastic goods and items manufactured in China making inroads into Indian markets in a big way, these artisans are struggling to make their both ends meet. Besides, the circulation of fake and cheap goods has hit the income sources of these poor tribal people. In the absence of jobs, these tribals have been coming to the state for last 40 years to make a living, a report said.
These people have been travelling several towns in the state like Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Angul, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar with their families for survival. Their lifestyle and profession indicate that neither the district administration nor Chhattisgarh government bothers to bring these tribals under the social security net and save their age-old occupation.
The broom business is extremely dull in Chhattisgarh and that is why their adult family members roam around in Orissa with bundle of date leaves on their heads and kids on shoulders. They sell a piece of broom for something around Rs 20 and make nearly Rs 25,000 a year.
“Neither do we have time nor scope to think about the future of our children and their health and education,” said a woman artisan Halki Shikari without regrets. PNN
