Dhaka street vendors' Eid sales waterlogged

Covering his goods on the footpath with a polythene sheet, street vendor Hakim Mia was looking up at the sky with a grumpy look on his face. Though it stopped raining by afternoon, his suffering continued as customers could not approach his shirts due to water flooding Motijheel's streets yesterday.

“Only three days are left before Eid. But customers are going away due to waterlogging. I am completely ruined,” he said in despair.

Just several hours of rain crippled city life as different parts of the capital went under ankle to knee-deep water thanks to poor the drainage system.

Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 62 millimetres of rainfall in Dhaka. The rain may continue, said an officer there, adding, “We will let you know tomorrow (Thursday) morning whether there will be any rain on Eid day.”

Hawkers' Super Market in Dhanmondi, one of the places usually bustling with shoppers before Eid, was found overflowing with sewage. A few shoppers were seen nonchalantly going around.

Amidst a similar scenario at Noorjahan Market opposite Dhaka College, Abdur Rob was found doing the shopping with his trousers folded up to the knee while his family waited on the first floor.

“I got a bonus on Sunday and thought of completing my shopping today. Now I have to complete my shopping in knee-deep water,” he said, impatiently rubbing  an itch on the part of his leg submerged in the murky water.

Although people were expecting the rains in order to cope with the sultry weather prevailing for the last couple of days, the waterlogging had frustrated them. Vendors are the worst sufferers.

The roads around Karwan Bazar, Kathalbagan, West Shewrapara, Dhanmondi, Nayapaltan, Fakirapool, Rajabazar, Shantinagar, behind Bangabhaban, Old Dhaka and Hazaribagh were the worst affected.

“Two festivals, Eid-ul-Ftir and Eid-ul-Azha, are the main income sources of our business but this waterlogging is going to wash away our chances,” said Ali Ahmed, running a shop on a footpath in Karwan Bazar. 

People going through Baily Road, have to deal with the same situation. Photo: Rashed Shumon, Palash Khan, Banglar Chokh

“The average sale is around Tk 25,000 every day but it was almost nil today due to the waterlogging as customers do not want to come wading through water,” said Ali, nearly on the brink of tears.

“I have kept my shop open raising it several feet using bricks but customers do not want to come,” he said.  

A Kathalbagan resident, Raihan Ahmed, said, “I had to wade through around thigh-deep water to go to the Bashundhara city as I did not get any rickshaw from home.”

Heading out with his two kids to get some shopping done, Monzu Miya was found waiting under a shed of a grocery shop. He said he had braved knee-deep water as he had to leave for his Pabna residence within hours.

Many vehicles were found to have gone out of order due to the waterlogging on different streets, forcing those inside to come out on the dirty water and push.

“I had to walk around one kilometre to reach my office at Farmgate as the human hauler I was in broke down due to waterlogging on Green Road,” said a commuter, Sohel Ahmed.