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Harsh blow to vendors

Blockade cuts sales

Helemul Alam and Jamil Mahmud
Street vendors at the entrance and exit points of the capital face a harsh blow during blockades as the number of their customers, mainly inter-district passengers, drops significantly.
On a regular day, thousands of people use five main roads, rail and waterway to enter and leave Dhaka. But the points were seen virtually empty yesterday, the second day of the latest 72-hour blockade, with very few passengers, fewer vehicles and closed counters.
Abu Taher, 42, was selling newspapers at Gabtoli bus terminal that linked the capital with northern and southern parts of the county.
Taher said he usually sold more than 150 copies of daily newspapers on a regular day, but his sale hardly hit 50 in the afternoon yesterday.
"There have been almost no passengers here during the last two days. I have lost almost the entire day," he said.
According to Bangladesh Hawkers Federation, there are around 2.6 lakh vendors in the city who do businesses on footpaths and other places. Of them, 40 percent cannot run their businesses during agitations like hartal and blockade.
Those who dare to continue in such a hostile situation
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face significant loss as the level of income falls sharply, said MA Kashem, president of Bangladesh Hawkers Federation.
Dudu Mia, 57, was selling woollen goods like mask, socks and winter cap on a footpath at the Abdullahpur intersection in Uttara. His main customers are those who travel between the city and Mymensingh and Gazipur.
"I did not run my business since the blockade had started. But today I could not hold back further as I have to buy rice," he said, adding that he could not do business for 17 days in
November alone.
The place usually bustled with bargaining of people with around 70 vendors, but only 10 to 15 were found yesterday, he added.
For Mohammad Swapan, 27, a fruit vendor at Abdullahpur, blockades came as a severe blow.
He was forced to sell his perishable goods, like oranges and grapes, at a low price but still could not sell much, he said.
Most of the vendors at Sadarghat launch terminal and Kamalapur railway station were also found sitting idle.
Nazrul Islam, a street vendor at Sadarghat, said he
had spent half of his business capital, around Tk 20,000, during the blockades and hartals last month.
"It is very frustrating as my usual income was at least Tk 500 a day. But it is much less than that now," he added.
Zamal Hossain, a street hawker at Kamalapur railway station, said he could sell only one piece of jeans pants yesterday. On average, he usually sold 15 pieces of pants a day, he informed.
Factory owners and employees who suppled the goods to street vendors like him were also facing the same loss as the demand for the products had also reduced, he added.