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Rajshahi City Corporation has no data on slum dwellers, and one of their survey activities on slums has been paused due to the outbreak. Corporation officials, however, think the number of families in those slums have increased in recent years.

Living in tiny shanties equipped with poor hygiene facilities, slum dwellers are at a high risk of contracting coronavirus. Sadly, practising social distancing is almost impossible, the dwellers said.

Right now, they are more worried about managing their meals than the pandemic.

After visiting Bhadra slum on Wednesday afternoon, this correspondent saw Manjila Begum preparing drumstick for cooking her curry at lunchtime.

“We have nothing for lunch; the drumstick is for dinner,” she said while talking to others who were huddled up there.

“I’m afraid of the coronavirus, and I have heard about keeping distance,” Manjila said. “But tell me, how will we maintain distance in these cramped spaces?”

Md Khalil said he lives with his seven family members in a 70 square feet shanty.

“We can do nothing. We just wear masks to be as safe as possible.”

From a distance, Golapi was seen sitting at her grocery and tea shop, despite authorities calling for keeping shops shut.

“I close the shop when they [authorities] come to raid the area, and open it back up when they go away,” she said. “I have no other way to live.”

Authorities have raided her shop at least five times since the shutdown, but she had not seen anyone visiting the slum with relief materials till Wednesday.

She said her income slumped from Tk 500 to Tk 100 per day. “Whatever I get is still helpful for managing essentials.”

During the visit by this correspondent, some youths brought a dish full of 120 lunch packets. Before they could even start distribution, around 30 slum dwellers snatched them away.

“Most of these people are starving. Distributing food among them is tough,” Rakibul Hasan, one of the youths said.