Abdul Latif, 27, a day laborer hailing from Mymansing, has been passing idle time for last two days in his shanty located in Nimtala area in Chittagong city as he has no works to do due to heavy downpour.
“I am compelled to sit idle in my room as I did not get any job in last two days. I have a little amount of money to maintain my family,” he said.
Like him, a number of people who live hand to mouth have been going through hardships as torrential rain has turned into a curse for them.
During visits to several areas, this correspondent found that roadside traders, construction workers and vendors have remained idle for a couple of days.
Yesterday, contractual day laborers were also seen to sit idle in different passengers’ sheds in Kajir Dewri, AK Khan and Dewanhat areas till afternoon.
Sajib Hossen, a vendor of Agrabad area, said he had folded his makeshift shop with plastic mat since morning as there was no respite from then rain.
“There is no money as there is no sale,” he said, adding that he opened his shop for only for three hours on Wednesday as presence of customers was very thin.
Anwar Hossain, a betel leaf and cigarette seller, took shelter inside a passengers’ shed in GEC area due to adverse weather.
“I have earned only Tk200 since the morning while my income is between Tk500 and Tk600 in a normal day,” said Anwar.
Tidal flows have inundated Agrabad-Beparypara, Halishahar, Khatunganj areas and lower coastal parts in Patenga-katgor area in Chittagong.
People were seen waiting in different points to board on traffic to reach their destinations. However, presence of mass transports were very few.
Kuddus Munsi, a worker of Chittagong Port Jetty, said loading and unloading goods in Chittagong Port remained suspended due to inclement weather.”
“So I did not get any single penny today [yesterday] as there was no work”, he added.
Chittagong Met Office, Patenga’s Duty Assistant Rezaul Karim told Dhaka Tribune that the met office had recorded 80.8 millimeters showers till yesterday 3pm while the danger signal number seven was hoisted till filing this report around 6pm for coastal areas.