AKM Zamir Uddin

The latest restrictions on movement have dealt another fatal blow to workers in the informal sector in the absence of adequate government support required to survive a prolonged period without work.

Last year, these workers had endured a difficult time between March 26 and the end of May when the government imposed a general shutdown to keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay. The state of their livelihoods has only worsened this time around.

“Some organisations and people extended their hand by way of giving relief to workers during the last year’s lockdown. Such initiatives are completely absent this year,” said Md Murshikul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Hawker Workers Trade Union Centre.

“Our lives are going up in flames, but nobody is thinking of us and how we are struggling to survive. We have so far not got any support from the government. How can we live?”