Slum dwellers in fear of losing works

Fatema Khanam, a domestic worker, lives in the Bashbari slum of Mohammadpur. She used to work in four apartments in the area. She lost the jobs as the owners asked her not to go for work due to coronavirus outbreak in the country.

In Mohammadpur, rickshaw puller Abdur Rahim lives near the Mohammadpur Beribadh. His income has dropped to half as most of the streets in Dhaka remains empty throughout the day. Another housemaid living in Kalyanpur slum, Manoara Begum of Mymensingh, is leaving Dhaka as she has nothing to do here for living.

Life in the capital has almost stagnated due to the fear of coronavirus as people opted for staying home. The streets are almost empty. Rickshaw pullers are not getting passengers. Domestic workers are losing work. The sufferings of approximately 600,000 slum dwellers around the city are multiplying due to fall in income and price hike of consumer goods. There is hardly any water supply arrangements in those slums, let alone ensuring cleanliness.

Selina Begum, president of the community-based organization (CBO) of the Sattala slum in Mohakhali, said, “It’s the poor people who are suffering the most. They will die in hunger if they stay home. Then there is chances of corona infection outside. Moreover, these slums are overcrowded. If one person is infected, everybody will be infected”.

The slum dwellers said employers were terrified as there was no sanitation system in the slums where the domestic workers live. Many are firing the workers in fear of virus.

Hannan Akand, CBO general secretary of Kalyanpur slum, told Prothom Alo, there are about 16,000 people in the slum. Nearly, 12,000 mini handwash has been provided with the help of Unilever. But how do they wash their hands when there is no water supply. WASA water comes only in the afternoon. In one part water comes at night only.

According to central CBO president Selina Akter said, there are 200,000 people living in the Korail slum. Slum dwellers cannot wash hands or maintain basic hygiene due to water crisis.

Most of the people in the slum work in the ready-made garments, at apartments, for cleaning, in the infrastructure sector or as work in transport sectors. Residents of the slum said they play a major role in the daily activities of the people of the city. But no one is beside them in this crisis.

Fatima Aktar, general secretary of the city's poor slum development organization, said, these slum dwellers prevent sneezing and cough in fear of losing jobs.

Had they been given at least some financial support during the emergency, they could have stayed at home, she added.