A balmy winter noon of yesterday saw Munni Begum, drained of energy and frustrated, sitting on a pavement at Azimpur eagerly waiting for someone to come and hire her as a day labourer.
A portion of the walkway she was sitting on is known to people as a place from where day labourers can be hired, mostly for construction work.
At the time Munni was waiting to be hired was not a moment when usually people hire workers.
But Munni desperately needed a work as over a week or so she had been out of work due to the ongoing blockade and shutdown.
Moreover, she has to undergo a treatment including an operation that involves a fair amount of money.
Munni, a divorcee, lives at Kamrangirchar with her daughter’s family and she has worked as a day labourer for 20 years.
About a month ago she fell ill as her sinuses swelled up with a severe headache for which she could not work for quite a long time and she had to spend all her savings on treatment.
She said she was now flat broke with not a single penny even to buy a piece of bread.
“Let alone Tk20,000 that I need for my operation, I am even unable to ensure my daily meals as people are not coming to hire us because of the blockade and shutdowns,” she said in a voice of helplessness.
Like Munni Begum other day labourers have also similar stories to tell.
Visiting different places where day labourers gather like Azimpur, New Market and Section Bazar this correspondent found that most of them return home empty-handed almost every day.
Most of the labourers have their families back at village homes and they have to send money to them regularly. If it is not sent timely their family members are to pass days half-fed and sometimes unfed.
Some of them have already left Dhaka to do something else in their villages to eke out a living there while others switched to other professions.
Kanchan Molla who worked as a day labourer in Dhaka city has recently left his profession. Now he sells betel leaf and cigarette in the capital for his daily expense.
He has wife, five daughters and one son at his home district in Bhola. He regularly sends money to his family members.
Kanchan said: “I cannot earn as much as I could from my previous profession but it helps me just to survive somehow in Dhaka city.”
He was not able to send any money to his family last month.
