Boatmen struggling to stay afloat

For years, slum dwellers have been making a living by operating boats on the lake connecting Karail slum and Gulshan-1. However, these days, they are having an extremely hard time continuing their profession, due to the immense pressure from local extortionists. The boatmen allege that thugs attack them as they are unable to pay the demanded extortion money.

An incident on January 10 is an example of the situation. More than seven armed men stormed into the Karail berthing point, beat up at least five boatmen and damaged six of their canoes.

When this correspondent visited the spot recently, he found the boatmen fixing the damaged boats. Seeking anonymity, they expressed their grief to The Daily Star.

To operate each boat, the goons demanded Tk 1 lakh in advance, they said. "As we couldn't pay the money, they attacked us and damaged our boats," said one of the boatmen.

Asked who carried out the attack, the victims said followers of Nasir Uddin, ward-20 councillor of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), did so.

They demanded as much as Tk 1,000 daily from each boat, they said.

The passengers -- mostly slum dwellers -- are charged Tk 10 each to go from Karail slum to Gulshan-1 police check-post.

Abdus Sobhan, president of Karail Slum Bou Bazar unit, said around 30,000 families live in those shanties.

The slum dwellers traditionally kept the boat operation active for over a decade. Later, law enforcers suspended it after the 2016 Gulshan café attack for security reasons.

However, the boatmen resumed operation on their own on January 1 this year, as slum dwellers have to pay more money to go to Gulshan-1 by rickshaw.

Amina Begum (35), who works as a house help at Gulshan-1, said Tk 40-50 fare is needed for a rickshaw ride, and she has to commute multiple times a day.

Before the suspension, around 90 boats plied the 100-metre route; that number came down to 11. This year, after resumption, the armed group took Tk 10,000-15,000 from each boat in advance.

Contacted, Councillor Nasir Uddin said he is not involved in any kind of extortion. "This is an illegal ghat. As I requested police to stop the operation, the boatmen are spreading false claims against me," he said.

About the legality, the boatmen said authorities neither permitted boat operation nor prohibited it.

The Karail slum berthing point is under ward-19, of which the councillor is Mofiz Uddin.

Mofiz said he heard about the extortion in the name of a nearby ward councillor. "Police will look into it."

Asked, Gulshan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abul Hasan said they were unaware about the boat operation. "We don't know about such extortion as well. We will look into it."

Meanwhile, expressing grief, a boatman told The Daily Star recently that for the last one month, they could not take the fare directly from passengers. Owners of the boats have been collecting money from the two ghats.

In that case, a boatman gets only Tk 400-600 for around 80-90 trips a day, although they earn Tk 4,000-5,000, he said.

Earlier, boatmen handed over the fare to the owners, who gave them around Tk 800 each, he added.

      On the issue, the boat owners said they are doing so as they have to spend money for various purposes to keep the boat operation running.