Curfew casts long shadow on low-income people

Shafiq Mandal, 65, who works as a porter and ticket broker at Sonadanga Bus Terminal in Khulna city, was seen sorting some rusted iron rods and bars at an abandoned car garage near the terminal on Friday noon.
Amid nationwide curfew over the past few days, he found no work to make ends meet and has been compelled to collect discarded metal pieces to sell as scraps.
“The terminal hardly had any passengers in the past few days due to curfew, so I had no work. Yesterday, I earned Tk 140 by selling scrap metal, but today [Friday], I won’t probably be able to make more than Tk 80-90,” he said.
Like him, almost all low-income people in Khulna city, including day labourers, hawkers, cobblers, rickshaw-pullers and vendors, have found themselves in dire straits amid the ongoing situation for over a week and are passing their days with frustration and struggling to stay afloat.
Like other times, day labourers were seen waiting at the city’s Sat Rasta and Moilapota intersections on Friday and Saturday in the morning, looking for clients to hire them for work.
However, even after waiting for more than four hours, less than half of them got any work.
Homeowners are reluctant to engage in any kind of construction work amid the prevailing situation, said the workers.
Many workers and marginalised people were also seen at Khulna Rail Station and BIWTA Terminal sitting idle.
“After finding no work for a week, I resorted to borrowing some money to buy essentials for my family of five and some lemons, which I have been selling in the Bastuhara kitchen market for the last three days. However, there are not many buyers on the market. So how am I going to earn anything in this situation?” lamented Rabiul Alam, a day labourer.
Hanif Gazi, 33, a construction worker from Haldar Para in Khalishpur, said he had to borrow Tk 1,300 from a relative to put food on the plate for his family of four as the construction work he was employed in has been suspended amid the curfew.
“How long can you survive with Tk 1,300? I need to find some work, but no one is hiring workers amid the curfew,” he added.
Al Amin Sheikh, 55, a rickshaw puller from Nayabati area, said he could not even earn a quarter of his usual daily income by pulling a rickshaw during the few hours when curfew gets relaxed.
Numerous other low-income and marginalised people shared similar plights with this correspondent.
Contacted, Kazi Aminul Haque, president of Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said daily wage earners have been the most adversely affected amid the ongoing situation.
He called upon the government as well as affluent members of society to come forward and help those affected.