Suffering of Poor on the Day of Hartal

The poor people, who usually lead their life with hand to mouth, suffered most in the day of hartal (general strike) with their limited income.

On the hartal day on Monday, a few number of buses and CNG-run three wheelers were seen carrying passengers but the number of rickshaws were a plenty on the city streets.

When asked some lower income group people including rickshaw pullers, CNG drivers, bus drivers and others said they have to take risk of their lives in the day of hartal as they have no other alternative but to get outside of their houses in search of daily earning.

Abdul Majid, 35, a rickshaw puller, said, “I have to work on the day of hartal because without my daily income my whole family will have to starve”.

“My whole family is dependent on my daily income and they all are waiting in my rented house when I will bring them food,” he said.

Zaj Mia, 40, a CNG-run three wheeler driver, said, “I know that I have to take risk of my life in operating the little cab as without toiling at my job who will give me food.”

“Do the sponsors of the hartal will supply food for my family?” he posed a question to this correspondent.

“If I work then I can buy food, if I didn’t then I will have starve with my family for the day. None will give me food, so by knowing well that my life is at risk, I came out for driving CNG,” the poor driver added.

He also said, “I have one son and two daughters and two of them are reading in schools. So I have no option left but to get out for work even during the hartal hours risking my life.”

Shafiq, 37, a bus driver of Azimpur-Mirpur route, told that the hartal callers are enforcing hartal for their narrow individual interest, they did not feel it necessary to ask anybody before giving the call for hartal.

“They never think about us (poor people). If they think about the poor people they can not give the call for hartal,” he added.

Shafiq also said on the day of last hartal, pickets vandalise his bus which he was driving. “After that I feel scared in driving bus on the day of hartal. But, I have no other option left other than driving the bus on the day of hartal,” the bus driver said.

A Banani-bound bus passenger named Helal, 25, said he is working as a peon in an office at Banani and it is a must for everybody in the office to attend their work place even in a hartal day.

Helal also said, “If I do not go to office then the authority will cut my today’s (hartal day) salary. So, I must have to go to my office even on the day of Hartal taking risk of my life and for this I am travelling on a bus.”

He alleged that the rickshaw pullers were charging extra fare taking it an opportunity that a few number of buses were in operation on different city routes.

While visiting a private office at Banani this correspondent experienced that there were almost a 100 percent attendance in the office on Monday.

However, some of the officials at the office said that some foreign delegates came today (Monday) to visit their office so all the staff were present at office today (hartal Day).

“We had to pay two to three times higher fare to travel by auto-rickshaws, buses or rickshaws,” alleged Shafiqul Islam, a service holder.

City dwellers had to wait for hours at many city street intersections to get into public buses or CNG-run three-wheelers or other motorised and non-motorised transports. Many of them had to go to their destinations on foot.

Posted in: Hartal