When thousands of homebound people on March 24 thronged Airport Railway Station in Dhaka, sepoy Saddam Hossain of Railway Nirapatta Bahini (RNB) was given the responsibility to deter people from getting on the train roof.

Holding a cane in one hand, he blew whistle every now and then to caution people. At times, he even had to grab hold of some passengers who by any means wanted to go home after the government on March 23 declared closure of offices and transports to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.

"No, I didn't have any gloves. I did my job with bare hands," Saddam told this newspaper recently.

At the end of the day, Saddam and his colleagues went to their Gopibagh Barrack, where over 250 RNB members including some Ansars share rooms, toilets and washrooms as well as the risk of transmitting Covid-19.

Meanwhile, IEDCR has repeatedly been requesting people to maintain social distance and personal hygiene.

In addition, such way of travelling increases the risk, and IEDCR in a following press briefing asked travellers to remain in quarantine for 14 days once they reach home.

But Bangladesh Railway authorities seem oblivious to the call and remain forgetful about the potential risk of RNB members who discharged their duties at stations on those days.

"No masks, gloves or soap; they gave us nothing," said an RNB member, wishing anonymity.

These correspondents interviewed around 30 RNB members who made similar claims.

On Sunday, this newspaper saw some of them on duty in and around the Kamalapur Railway Station without any protective equipment.

Though the station is devoid of passengers now, they still have to deal with vagrants and locals.

"If one of us somehow gets infected, it will affect us all," said another RNB member. Pointing to the mask on his face, he said, "I bought this myself."

"The authorities rely on us for the security of public assets worth thousands of crores of taka but they leave us without protection," he added.

CONDITION OF RNB BARRACK

The two-storey yellow building has already been declared vulnerable to collapse. Rusty rods have become visible as plasters are falling off at places.

On the ground floor, 14 beds [in two rows] have been set up in a congested way in a room where 12 persons sleep. Four members, who had night duty, were sleeping while some were getting ready for evening shift, this newspaper saw during a visit. There were three water tanks for them -- some were bathing, some washing clothes while some collecting water to drink from those.

RISK FACTOR

A scientific brief on modes of virus transmission, published on March 27 by WHO, said novel coronavirus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes.

Droplet transmission occurs when a person is in close contact (within 1 metre) with someone who has respiratory symptoms such as coughing or sneezing and is therefore at risk of having his/her mucosae (mouth and nose) or conjunctiva (eyes) exposed to potentially infective respiratory droplets.

Transmission may also occur through fomites in the immediate environment around the infected person. Therefore, it can occur by direct contact with infected people and indirect contact with surfaces in the immediate environment.

WHAT AUTHORITIES SAY

Jahirul Islam, chief commandant of RNB (east), said they are yet to get government support as it takes a while. "We have collected some PPE, sanitisers, masks and handgloves ourselves," he told The Daily Star on Tuesday.

Regarding the barrack's condition, Jahirul said it is not possible to address all the issues immediately but "we have instructed our officials to spray disinfect regularly and maintain hygiene properly".

The support may not reach all staff members immediately for the sudden shutdown but officials were asked to ensure it, said the chief commandant, who is stationed in Chattogram.

Jahirul suggested communicating with Md Shahidullah, assistant commandant of RNB (Dhaka), saying that Shahidullah has been given the responsibility of ensuring safety measures for RNB members in the capital.

Contacted, Shahidullah told this newspaper that they have received a small amount of fund from the office of RNB chief commandant (east).

"We have arranged some masks and handgloves from that but we did not get any PPE support yet," he said. "We gave masks and handgloves to Dhaka staffers using the fund, but it is not adequate as it did not reach all of them," he said.

Shahidullah continued, "We have received a supply of PPE three to four days ago but the higher authorities did not give any decision regarding its use yet. We heard they will take a decision within a day or two."

Talking to The Daily Star on Tuesday Md Shamsuzzaman, director general of Bangladesh Railway, however, said they have provided necessary safety equipment including PPE to RNB officials soon after the health ministry issued directives. "One or two may miss those mistakenly but it's not true that they didn't get it. We have taken all necessary steps and officials were tasked to ensure that," he added.