Anisul Islam Noor :
About 2.5 lakh street vendors in the capital are bearing the brunt of losses, as their daily sales have fallen sharply due to the ongoing blockade and hartal enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
Moshiur Rahman, a street vendor of the Gulistan area, while talking with this reporter in the afternoon said that he had sold clothing items amounting to Tk 600 only on Thursday, comparing with Tk3000 on an average per day before blockade.
“I could not pay the house rent for the last month and tuition fees of my school going daughter of class eight for the current month on account of extremely dull business. If the situation does not improve, I have to leave Dhaka under duress,” said the vendor.
Abdur Rahim from Kushtia has been doing businesses as vendor in the Motijheel Commercial Area for eight years. He has to maintain a family of three members.
But in the last two months, the sales of his clothes fell by 80 percent. “Though we open shop on the footpath in time, a very small number of buyers arrive to purchase. It is really terrible”, said Abdur Rahim.
Fruits vendor Saiful Islam said that he had suffered a loss of Tk 20,000 in last two months. “I do not know when and how shall I be able to recover the losses. The loss amount will increase if the hartal and blockade is not withdrawn shortly,” he said.
President of Bangladesh Hawkers Federation MA Kashem told The New Nation, some 2.5 lakh hawkers in the capital have been passing their days in hardship. Most of the buyers being the office employees, they leave Motijheel and Gulistan as soon as their offices close in the afternoon.
About 2.5 lakh street vendors in the capital are bearing the brunt of losses, as their daily sales have fallen sharply due to the ongoing blockade and hartal enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
Moshiur Rahman, a street vendor of the Gulistan area, while talking with this reporter in the afternoon said that he had sold clothing items amounting to Tk 600 only on Thursday, comparing with Tk3000 on an average per day before blockade.
“I could not pay the house rent for the last month and tuition fees of my school going daughter of class eight for the current month on account of extremely dull business. If the situation does not improve, I have to leave Dhaka under duress,” said the vendor.
Abdur Rahim from Kushtia has been doing businesses as vendor in the Motijheel Commercial Area for eight years. He has to maintain a family of three members.
But in the last two months, the sales of his clothes fell by 80 percent. “Though we open shop on the footpath in time, a very small number of buyers arrive to purchase. It is really terrible”, said Abdur Rahim.
Fruits vendor Saiful Islam said that he had suffered a loss of Tk 20,000 in last two months. “I do not know when and how shall I be able to recover the losses. The loss amount will increase if the hartal and blockade is not withdrawn shortly,” he said.
President of Bangladesh Hawkers Federation MA Kashem told The New Nation, some 2.5 lakh hawkers in the capital have been passing their days in hardship. Most of the buyers being the office employees, they leave Motijheel and Gulistan as soon as their offices close in the afternoon.
