People in the country’s lower income bracket, especially the daily laborers, are going to face serious financial hardships as earning areas will drastically reduce amid the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) globally.
People, who earn their livelihood from hand to mouth, have already started facing financial hardship as they are not getting regular work as before.
Talking to Bangladesh Post on Thursday and Friday, several rickshaw pullers, hawkers, transport workers, construction workers and other daily labourers in the capital expressed their miseries.
“I got one passenger in the morning. After that, no one has come to hire my rickshaw till noon,” said Lal Mia, aged 40, a rickshaw puller in the Mugda area.
“It will be very difficult to maintain my family if this situation continues for a few more days,” he added.
It is known that most of the rickshaw pullers in Dhaka ride rickshaws they hire from different rickshaw owners. Rickshaw pullers have to pay Tk 300 per day for hiring a rickshaw, irre spective of their earnings of the day.
“No passenger is hiring my rickshaw today. It will not be possible for me to earn the money I need to pay the owner, let alone my livelihood,” Zamir Uddin, a 55 year old rickshaw puller expressed his condition to Bangladesh Post in disappointment.
Hawkers are not seen in different areas of capital Dhaka as they were earlier. Although a few hawkers came to earn their livelihood, they did not sell goods as in other times due to lack of buyers.
“Most of the buyers come to hawkers market in Gulistan on Fridays. But, no one is leaving the house without need. That’s why shopping malls and hawker markets are facing a thin presence of buyers,” said, Abul Kalam, a shopkeeper of Gulistan Hawker Market.
“I could not sell even a pair of shoes the whole day,” said a shoe seller in Baitul Mukarram area.
Most of the areas in Dhaka on Friday wore a deserted look amid the fear of coronavirus infection. Public transports were very thin in Dhaka metropolitan areas due to lack of passengers.
“We do not get enough passengers now. Roads and highways are out of passengers. Bus owner advised us not to ply buses as we did not earn more than the fuel cost in the last two days. We have to stop plying transports. We will face serious financial hardship if the situation continues for a week,” Babul, a driver of ‘Turag’ bus service on Friday told Bangladesh Post.
Most of the people have started staying home following the announcement of closure of all educational institutions, and transport workers are not getting passengers as they did earlier.
Besides, Rajshahi Transport Owners Association on Thursday suspended all bus services between Rajshahi and Dhaka, Chattogram for indefinite period to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
People are staying home as educational institutions are closed and many companies and financial institutions have started conducting their activities through home service.
Rina Rahman, a citizen of Dhaka, said, “We do not know what is going to happen in the upcoming few days. If it turns like Italy or China, we will not be able to control the spread of the virus. So, we are staying home and following all the precautionary measures.”
“Lower income groups will face serious financial hardship in upcoming days for two reasons. Firstly, the price of essentials has increased. Secondly, day laborers are not getting work to earn livelihood,” Saifur Rahman, a banker said.
Prices of rice and other essential items have increased overnight as many people rushed to buy grocery goods fearing a crisis in the days to come.
People have been seen stocking up essential grocery items, especially rice, after the declaration by the education ministry on shutting down all educational institutions until March 31.
This prompted many traders to increase prices by Tk10-20 per kilogram.
Visiting several kitchen markets on Friday, this correspondent found rice retailers selling coarse Miniket for Tk55-60 per kg which was Tk48-52 a kilo a few days ago, and fine Miniket at Tk55-70 a kg which was Tk 52-58 per kg earlier. BR 28 was selling for Tk42-44 a kg at wholesale market and retailing for Tk46-50 a kg.
The price of different vegetables also increased Tk 10-30 per kilogram.