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Polli. She only got the work towards the end of the last year after the pandemic restrictions eased. Now with the restrictions coming down hard again, she is fearing unemployment.

“I used to work six days a week at a house, but just this week my employers told me to come only twice a week from now on. I am afraid I will get fired soon,” said Rubina. She has her orphaned nephew and niece depending on her.

“We need relief. There is no other way we can survive,” she said.

An economic think tank called South Asian Network for Economic Modelling found that once the coronavirus-driven social restrictions ended last year in December, the poverty rate stood at 42 percent, up from 21.6 percent in 2018.

Abdur Rahman 41, a hawker selling baby clothes at Mirpur-10 intersection had loaned Tk 1 lakh to invest in clothes keeping Pahela Baishakh and Eid in mind.

“We mostly see sales happening during Pahela Baishakh, the two eids and winter,” said Rahman. “If I cannot sell anything during Pahela Baishakh, I will be in deep financial trouble.”

He said that the government needs to give relief and it has to be enough to last the lockdown.

“Last year, we got 20kg of grains, which was supposed to last for as many as 6 months. It only lasted a month,” he said.

During the pandemic, only 35 lakh poor were given a one-time cash incentive of Tk 2,500, leaving millions of other out of the purview of financial assistance. Relief distribution nationally was mired in well-documented corruption.

Maulana Abdus Sobhan, development committee president of Korail Slum Boubazar unit, said, “Last year, the blow left lakhs hungry in the slum. If this year is going to be a repetition, these people need relief materials. The relief can help them stave off the lenders at least.”

Monu Miah is a footpath hawker at Bhashantek slum. “Last year during the lockdown, I had to take Tk 40,000 in loans. I am not even able to return the money I borrowed and there are eight lenders after me for the money. I was barely getting back on my feet and you are telling me that this year might be the same?”

[Zyma Islam contributed to the report]