Over 4000 people are now engaged in the profession, working either at small factories or at their houses.

Jasim Uddin, who took the initiative by setting up a small handicrafts workshop on his homestead at Moddha Mandarkandi village, said he earlier worked at a factory in Mirpur in Dhaka city and learnt the craft.

"Returning home, I trained up some women deserted by their husbands and set up a workshop in 1995.

"Now there are eight workshops in my village", he told this correspondent during a recent visit.

In five other villages in the union, although there are no workshops but women there produce fashionable and decorated dresses and handicrafts with cloth and accessories supplied from Moddha Mandarkandi. Many men and women work in the village.

This correspondent also visited nearby Digam Bordhi, Photia, Kakarchar, Alamdi, Pabda and Maddha Kandi villages. Men and women were seen busy in putting ornamental thread (jory) and laying designs on sarees and three-piece dresses for women.

For the sarees and three-pieces, accessories are supplied by the buyers. Workers work on contract basis, either at workshops or at their homes.

The learning of the skill has changed the lifestyle of the people in the area.

They get between Tk 150 and Tk 300 for decorating a three-piece garment and between Tk 300 and Tk 1000 for working on a saree.

Sufia, wife of Abdul Karim of Pabda village said, " I am doing this for the last seven years. I am better off now with my children".

Nazrul Islam is in the profession for about 10 years. He earns around Tk 6000 a month.

Rita, a high school student who collects accessories from a workshop for her parents, said, "My mother and two sisters can decorate a saree in three to five days earning Tk 700 to Tk 1000 for the family. My father also works at a workshop".

Normally, decorative work on sarees is done by women at home as they can also involve in the work, said entrepreneur Mostafa.

Workers are paid on Friday, which is also the market day in the union, they said.

Most of the buyers are from Dhaka. Buyers from other cities and towns also come. The suppliers supply the products as per buyers' specification.

Work on at least 2000 three-piece garments and 1000 sarees is made in all the workshops in the union.

They said some big buyers also export the items to Middel East and to the USA.

But the entrepreneurs lamented that they are yet to get any support from government, banks or NGOs.