Slum people worried more about food than virus

With a family of five, rickshaw puller Rijon Mridha has been living in the city's North Begunbari slum for the last 10 years. The Covid-19 pandemic has already made their lives miserable in the last one year and a half, and the latest lockdown has only made it worse.

Sick, he has not been able to go out with his rickshaw for the last 10 days and now there is no one who will come close to help either. Without any income for days, he is worried about feeding his family.

"We are managing somehow with a very small amount of money that I saved," said Rijon.

He said, "We are not afraid of the virus: we are worried about food."

People living in the city slums have similar stories. They have been desperately struggling to survive amid the pandemic and lockdown. 

Rickshaw pullers, van drivers, housemaids, scrap metal collectors, shop workers are among those who live in the slums of Begunbari, Magbazar, Kawranbazar, and the roadside huts in Tejgaon. 

Talking to at least 40 people in the Begunbari and Mogbazar slums, it was learnt that no government assistance reached them this time and only four of them received some relief from NGO or individuals. 

People in slums loiter around without any job amid the lockdown. Photo: TBS

Twelve people said they initially managed to survive on their meager savings and now depend on borrowing money from other people around them.

Only six of them said at least one family member is earning something in the lockdown. Five of them said their families are surviving on begging.

At the slum next to the Moghbazar railway line, housemaid Suraiya Akhtar lost her work in the latest lockdown. Her day labourer husband is also jobless now.

"Many people come and take photocopies of our NID cards but no one gives anything. Last Ramadan, one person helped us with some rice and pulses. Now we have nothing to eat," said Suriya.

Saleha Begum from the Modhubag slum has also lost work as a housemaid and her husband is sick. She is now begging to pay for my husband's medicine and food.

Tahura Begum, another person from the Mogbazar slum, has a family of four. The family depends on her husband's income who worked at a shop but he too lost his job with the lockdown.

"If this goes on, we will have to die of no food," she said.

She also said that some families in her slum have moved back to their villages amid the pandemic.

At least 20 slum residents like Shimla Akhter, Zahura Khatun, Shyamal Das and Akib Hossain, said they received some relief only from some individuals.

People in slums loiter around without any job amid the lockdown. Photo: TBS

Rushia Begum, 60, of the North Begunbari slum, told The Business Standard that she had received food aid or relief only twice in the last one year from an NGO. The relief package had 5 kgs of rice, 1 kg of pulses, 1 kg of potatoes, 1 kg of salt, and 1 litre of oil.

The slum people said many in the slums developed Covid-19 symptoms and recovered at home. None of them even tested to be sure whether they really caught the virus or not.

According to a study published last month by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), 71% of slum dwellers in Dhaka, and 55% in Chattogram, have been infected by the coronavirus and have developed antibodies without a vaccine.

According to the study, the rate of seropositivity in adults and young people is almost the same. Thirty-five percent of the victims had mild symptoms and the rest were asymptomatic.

However, the rate of infection was higher among the less educated, the overweight, high blood pressure patients and the diabetic.

Sayema Haque Bidisha, professor of economics at Dhaka University, told The Business Standard, "We have seen in various surveys that most of the slum dwellers work as day labourers and have lost their jobs in lockdowns. Under such circumstances, they try to survive on their savings or borrow money. Many of them somehow survived the first wave of the pandemic last year, but this time they are in deep trouble."

She urges the government to provide financial assistance for slum dwellers besides simply forcing them to maintain health rules. 

"People's representatives and NGOs should come forward to help slum dwellers. The government has to take long term measures for these low-income people. These people must be vaccinated too," Prof Sayema Haque Bidisha said.