UNB, Dhaka :
Hostel accommodation for single women in Dhaka city may face a severe crisis in the post-lockdown period as most of them have been forced to shut down during the lockdown.
Talking to many owners and managers who run such hostels in the city, it was learned that they are now mostly confused as to how to return to their business.
Working women, applicants for different jobs, private university students who come from outside the city usually live in such city hostels due to the huge crisis of accommodation at the government level.
The number of private hostels for single working women in the city has grown as the number of government hostels proved inadequate to accommodate them.
These hostels were the last resort for single, working women or students from outside Dhaka city looking to live in a secure and safe environment.
Tamanna Tamim, a student at a private university who left Dhaka during the closure of educational institutions brought on by the pandemic, said that how it is proving difficult for her to find a new place now that she is looking
to return, in anticipation of her classes resuming. But her old hostel has gone out of business.
The ones that are available meanwhile, have raised their rent and other charges, she said.
Sapna Akter, a supervisor of a leading hostel Nibedika which has more than a hundred branches in the city, said: “We cannot express how we pass our time.
“During this lockdown, we face a lot of challenges as we cannot pay the rent timely. We did not get cooperation from the property’s owners in some cases.”
“Even we did not find any solution complaining to the police as the house owners are influential. They threw out the furniture, goods of the tenants in their absence,” she also said.
She added that they are trying their best to protect the possessions of the tenants who have left these behind in many cases, especially important paperwork.
The longtime lockdown has almost crippled them as they are having to continue paying rent to the4 property owners to continue their business. It will be a great challenge for those who have to recover the loss incurred, the supervisor said.
President of the Hostel Owners Association of Bangladesh Asadujjaman said that they are trying to return to business, but it will not be possible for many hostels to do so.
Hostel accommodation for single women in Dhaka city may face a severe crisis in the post-lockdown period as most of them have been forced to shut down during the lockdown.
Talking to many owners and managers who run such hostels in the city, it was learned that they are now mostly confused as to how to return to their business.
Working women, applicants for different jobs, private university students who come from outside the city usually live in such city hostels due to the huge crisis of accommodation at the government level.
The number of private hostels for single working women in the city has grown as the number of government hostels proved inadequate to accommodate them.
These hostels were the last resort for single, working women or students from outside Dhaka city looking to live in a secure and safe environment.
Tamanna Tamim, a student at a private university who left Dhaka during the closure of educational institutions brought on by the pandemic, said that how it is proving difficult for her to find a new place now that she is looking
to return, in anticipation of her classes resuming. But her old hostel has gone out of business.
The ones that are available meanwhile, have raised their rent and other charges, she said.
Sapna Akter, a supervisor of a leading hostel Nibedika which has more than a hundred branches in the city, said: “We cannot express how we pass our time.
“During this lockdown, we face a lot of challenges as we cannot pay the rent timely. We did not get cooperation from the property’s owners in some cases.”
“Even we did not find any solution complaining to the police as the house owners are influential. They threw out the furniture, goods of the tenants in their absence,” she also said.
She added that they are trying their best to protect the possessions of the tenants who have left these behind in many cases, especially important paperwork.
The longtime lockdown has almost crippled them as they are having to continue paying rent to the4 property owners to continue their business. It will be a great challenge for those who have to recover the loss incurred, the supervisor said.
President of the Hostel Owners Association of Bangladesh Asadujjaman said that they are trying to return to business, but it will not be possible for many hostels to do so.
