The bamboo artisans residing in 'Banstaal' locality of the city had their hands busy preparing flag masts even on the last day of campaigning by political parties on Tuesday.‘Banstaal’ is a locality situated in the heart of city where bamboo artisans live in clusters and have been catering to the various needs of city’s households for decades.
Women of this area toiled hard to deliver the flags before the deadlines, assigned by political parties during the past fifteen days in order to earn some extra income during the poll season. Anju Netam and Kajal who have attained dexterity in bamboo craft shared their joy of how they could earn some extra income through making sleek masts for small party flags. Anju said that preparing masts for 200 small flags could earn them Rs 100. We prepared 200 to 300 masts in a day, and almost all the women and children of Banstaal area households had been busy making masts since last fortnight.
Prahalad Markam also said that all the households were busy making the masts for the last ten days to meet the deadline and complete the orders they got from different political parties. I earned myself Rs 2,000 by making Congress party’s flag masts in a week, Prahalad stated. He said, 'we do not have anything to do with any of the political parties.'
Prahalad informed that artisans prepare hosts of materials for households such as bamboo basket, containers, 'Supas' , brooms, traditional head gears for bride-grooms, bamboo carpets , ornamental flowers and other decorative objects .’
Now, when Social Media dominated larger chunk of the poll campaign this time round, being convenient and faster mode of campaigning now available to political parties for reaching to the masses, it has started affecting the business of both traditional artists and artisans who used to earn a lot during poll time once every five years time by making flags, pamphlets and through wall writings.