Special Correspondent :
The ongoing countrywide shutdown has dealt a severe blow to millions of needy and low income people as their income came down to naught due to the government’s sweeping measures taken to contain the spread of deadly coronavirus.
“Low income people of the country are the most sufferers since the enforcement of social distancing measures and lockdowns to fight the novel coronavirus. Extreme poverty has risen 60 percentage points than before, while 14 per cent people do not have any food at home,” a survey conducted by BRAC, world’s one of the largest NGOs, revealed late Friday.
The government has been observing countrywide shutdown since March 26 and it had been extended for third time till April 25.
“I have lost my job since the announcement of lockdown,” Md Muktar, 36, a day labourer, told The New Nation yesterday.
He lives in a slum where healthcare has long been weak and many live in unsanitary condition.
“The ongoing shutdown reduced my income to zero, but I need money to buy food and maintain my family, Md Muktar, adding, “Now I am helpless, and without government support it is difficult to live and maintain my family.”
Amid countrywide outcry from poor, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said the government will provide ration cards to another five million people during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Bangladesh has reported 1,572 coronavirus cases and 60 deaths but many health experts are bracing for a surge of infections despite the government’s efforts.
“Poor and low-income people in the country have been experiencing tough times due
to the countrywide shutdown. The aggressive government measure taken to contain the virus makes them vulnerable requiring free food and cash support,” said economist Dr Ahsan H Mansur.
He said, the government should provide the support so that country’s poor can survive the nationwide shutdown. We have to ensure that nobody remains hungry and thirsty. Otherwise, hunger can create huge social disturbance apart from the ongoing health emergency caused by the coronavirus contagion.
“The government has already announced aid programme for poor and low-income people hit hard by the loss of work and income during the shutdown. The benefits are yet to reach affected people. Corruption is marring the government’s rice relief efforts,” observed Dr Ahsan Mansur, an Executive Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI).
He also said that the state-sponsored aid must reach the targeted people swiftly, and the corruption and theft of food must be stopped immediately. “The government must take stern action against those involved in corruption and theft of food, and ensure that all needy people get necessary aid at this crisis moment,” he added.
For more than a decade Monwara Begum, 45, had managed to survive working as housemaid. But she became jobless from the first week of this month as her employers asked them not to come to work due to rising spread of coronavirus.
“The lob loss could leave a dire consequences on my livelihood when I have no other earning source nor any one to support me. I could have starved from the next month unless I can get the government support,” said Monwara Begum who’s husband left her years back and she now lives at a slum in city’s Mugda area.
Not only day day-labourers and housemaids, thousands of rickshaw-pullers, transport workers, hawkers, restaurants, shops and construction workers have already been hit hard by the ongoing countrywide shutdown.
The country’s economy has also come to a standstill due to the shutdown.
“The government should take measures for livelihoods of millions of people who have lost their jobs,” former Finance Adviser of the Caretaker Government Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam told The New Nation.
Due to the shutdown, he said, workers of informal sector mainly lost their jobs and they need cash incentive and foods. They can be provided the aid utilizing the government’s stimulus package.
According to the Labour Force Survey 2017, around 60.8 million people were in various jobs or engaged in economic activities. Employment in the informal sector accounts for 85.1 percent of the employed population.
“The government must ensure first that everyone has food to prevent deaths caused by hunger. Besides, medical treatment has to be ensured for all corona patients to save their lives,” added Dr Azizul Islam, a noted economist of the country.
