Dhaka, Dec. 9 -- With the arrival of winter, quilt and mattress makers in Ishwardi, a riverbank area of the Padma, are spending busy days and nights making quilts and mattresses.

The intensity of cold is increasing day by day, and biting cold may set in within the next few days. Even before winter fully begins, ordinary people have started crowding quilt and mattress shops. However, traders said that the prices of cotton, quilt fabric, foam, and labor wages have all increased compared to last year.

As a northern township, the Padma char areas of Ishwardi experience stronger cold as soon as evening sets in. Over the last three days, the temperature has fluctuated between 12 and 13 degrees Celsius. According to Nazmul Haque Ranjan, an Ass...