Do workers’ lives and safety really matter to the govt?
With the government suddenly announcing on Friday that export-oriented factories will operate per normal starting August 1—despite the DGHS warning that it will likely lead to a spike in Covid-19 infections—tens of thousands of workers from different parts of the country have endured untold sufferings while returning to their workplaces. Since the transport ban is still in place, workers had to travel by bikes, trucks, pick-ups, three-wheelers and anything else they could find—and in some cases even walk towards Dhaka—paying three to four times more.
It was not until 8pm on Saturday that the authorities suddenly changed their minds again, deciding to resume transport services for 16 hours till Sunday afternoon. However, top officials of both the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and Bangladesh Railway remained uninformed about the decision until 9pm, and were initially informed about the matter only verbally. Consequently, BR could not get any of its trains operating, as it was impossible to resume train operations for such a short time and then shut it down again. Given that many bus staffers had returned home for the lockdown, very few buses were actually able to operate as well. This also led to ferry terminals being overpacked as, according to a report published by this newspaper on Monday, around one lakh people were waiting at Banglabazar ferry terminal on Saturday evening to cross the Padma River.
Due to this huge onrush of people towards Dhaka and other industrial centres such as Narayanganj and Gazipur, roads and highways witnessed massive tailbacks. Social distancing and other health guidelines flew out the window, and one worker, 22-year-old Md Abu Hasan, was run over and killed while trying to board a moving bus. Who will take responsibility for his death? And who will take responsibility for the massive suffering that the workers had to endure, and the possibility of them contracting the virus and eventually passing it onto others?
The constant government flip-flops—from deciding that factories will remain closed on July 27 and then opting to reopen them no less than three days later—not only illustrate a lack of organisation, but also how little the government really cares about the lives of workers who form the backbone of our economy. And this fact was even more obvious when it came to the decision to continue the ban on transport operations, and then suddenly changing it a day after it was decided that workers had to return to work. The saddest thing about all this is that no one in the government will likely be held accountable for this disaster, even though they ought to be held responsible. The decision-makers have not only made a mess of the entire situation, but they have done so in the worst possible way—by forcing workers to endure all kinds of sufferings.
With the DGHS warning this could lead to another spike in infections—and with daily infections already hovering around the 15,000 mark—the government should begin preparations to handle more patients coming into the hospitals. The number of hospital beds should urgently be increased and prepped to treat Covid-19 patients.
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