For them, Ramadan spells more struggle
Early morning every day, a reserved spot in Mirpur’s Pallabi sees no less than a thousand pair of eyes looking at every passer-by in hopes that someone will call for work.
It is one of the few day-labour markets in Dhaka city, also known as ‘kamla bazar’, where labourers stand in line waiting for a random call and rush in to scoop up a day job.
Starting out from around 6:30am every day, this market sees about 500-600 day-labourers waiting, all huddled up, ready to rush in for any day job you might have for them. And before the calmness of the morning hours give way to all the hustle and bustle, they disappear into the crowd leaving no trace that they were ever there.
Normally, anyone can get called for about 20 days of work a month on an average with a rate of Tk 500 a day. But Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims worldwide, spells a terrible spell for them and casts an even greyer prospect for Eid.
“I have been working for 27 years now, but I have never seen a Ramadan like this year,” Mashuk Mia, 45, a day-labourer who stands in line for work every day, tells The Daily Star. “Work decreases during Ramadan, but never like this.”
According to most of the day-labourers who talked to The Daily Star, this year’s Ramadan has been a bad spell for them. Some were lucky enough to get hired for five days, and all the others were doing rough with two or three days of work (until 18th Ramadan).
“Machines are taking away our work. For the last two to three years now, the work flow has gradually decreased. This Ramadan, it got worse than before,” Mashuk Mia says.
Rana Byapari, 34, a stout-built youth from Madaripur was also waiting for work in despair – a work that he has been doing for the past four years. “Before in Ramadan, there used to be work for about 15 days on average. This time, I managed to find work for only six days.”
Fatema Begum, 32, and her husband Saiful Islam, 35, were also in the queue for work. Their story of hardship is facing even a bigger challenge of no work this Ramadan. What they said echoed the same of Rana Byapari and Mashuk Mia.
The Daily Star talked to several other day-labourers who also said the same. For them, the prospect of Eid is not bright at all.
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