With boom in sale charcoal traders 'shine' through soot
Source: The Sangai Express / Addie Chiphang

Imphal, December 18 2008: With the advent of chilly winter season, the household demand of Charcoal has been on the rise giving a good reason to many poor women who are engaged in the business of selling Charcoal to smile.

Regardless of the snooty black Charcoal powder sticking on their faces and cloths, the Charcoal sellers in various pockets of Imphal have no qualm or complaint as the sale has picked up.

In a State like Manipur where erratic power supply has been a norm rather than an exception, Charcoal has been the main source of heat during winter season.

Women engaging in charcoal trade to earn their livelihoods

The indigenous method of making Charcoal by digging up trenches and filling them up with logs of wood to set on fire and then covering the dugouts to smother the blazing flame is a hard task indeed, but it has been the source of livelihood for many people in the hill areas of the State where the scope of employment is abysmally limited.

With her face besmeared all over with the black powder, 38-year old Akim of Churachandpur district who has been selling Charcoal at New Checkon for the last 8 years, said with a broad smile that she is not worried about the dirtiness of her cloths when people are queuing up in front of her shop to buy Charcoal.

Mother of three children, two girls and one boy all of them studying in a reputed private school in Imphal, Akim said now is the peak season and she could earn around Rs 1200 to Rs 1500 from selling Charcoal on an average every day.

Explaining about her business, Akim disclosed that the Charcoal being sold in her shop have been prepared and brought from jungles of Churachandpur district at a cost of Rs 20,000 per trip and she gets around Rs 20 to 25 per bag as profit.

On arrival at Imphal, she sells at Rs 250 per bag of 100 kgs and Rs 200 for 50 kg bag.

For those who could not afford to purchase bagful of Charcoal, Akim has solution and she offers Charcoal at the rate of Rs 40 per tin.

To a question, she said although there is no authorised tax on bringing the Charcoal to Imphal, one has to shell out anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 100 at Forest Gate or to the traffic police and commandos.

Fiftytwo-year old Kombirei, who hails from Kongba of Imphal East district said she has been in this profession for over 2 years now.

After her husband left her for another woman, Kombirei, a mother of two children, used to operate a Pan Dukan, but the meagre income could not even ensure two square meal a day for her children.

Having no other option, she took up Charcoal selling in an open area at Checkon and the trade proved to be profitable.

While informing that with a small investment, she could earn a profit of around Rs 450 to Rs 600 every day from her Charcoal business, Kombirei said she is no more concerned about whether her children would sleep the night on empty stomach or their teachers would send them back from school for not paying the fee.

Bina Devi, a young widow in her mid-twenties, who too has been in the business of Charcoal selling for one and half years now, said that after the untimely demise of her husband she became the sole bread earner of the family and faced great difficulties in keeping the kitchen fire burning and ensuring education of her three young children.

But today with an income of Rs 500 to Rs 800 she could earn from her business of selling Charcoal after deduction of the invested amount on the wholesaler, she can easily manage the family, Bina said.