Hundreds of transport workers are passing hard times as no buses are plying on the roads due to government restrictions.
In the face of a strict shutdown, long haul bus workers, drivers have fallen into a very critical condition where they can hardly have their daily meals. Their families are also living in a miserable condition in their villages.
"As our earnings depend on the wheels, if they remain stopped, our day to day life also stops. There is no one who can help us, give us food in this pandemic," said a transport worker at Mohakhali Bus Terminal.
"For the first few days, the local labor leaders did something for us, but now no one can be seen. In this situation, it is a far cry to take care of our family, when we are in a food crisis ourselves. Even when we call our leaders, they continue to make various excuses," he added.
According to the workers, some of them are now pulling rickshaws, vans and even wheelbarrows in search of a livelihood. Again some are selling vegetables on vans. The family is running on the little money that is earned through this.
A bus driver at Gabtoli said, "We are sitting idle. How long will we have to continue like this we don't know. How long will the owners keep paying us while buses are not running on the road? Everyone is hungry. So now we are trying to do some odd jobs".
About 75 percent of the passengers in Bangladesh travel by road. This sector is playing an important role in keeping the national economy dynamic.
Every day, at least two crore passengers travel by public transport. More than 3 million workers are involved in this sector. The government also collects revenue of thousands of crores of taka from this sector every year. About four lakh motor mechanics and parts traders, hotel and restaurant traders are also involved in this sector.
Public transport started operating from June 1 across the country including Dhaka. As per the government's directive, urban transport and long-distance buses have started operating with less passengers by increasing the fare of public transport by 60 percent.
However, as the new variant of Covid-19 again began spreading across the country, the government halted all means of passenger transport.
"As the Coronavirus situation is worsening again, we have to shut down our bus operation. For the last 1 and a half years, we have been bearing the brunt of helplessness. There are bank instalments, bus maintenance costs, staff salary, family expenses and many more. We can not deal with all these due to the stagnated situation. We urge the government to do something for us," a bus owner at Mohakhali told this reporter.
Earlier, on May 3, thousands of transport workers protested demanding relief. There were protests in Demra, Jatrabari and Savar in the capital and in Kurigram and Barishal outside Dhaka. They said either to restart transport operation or provide them sufficient food assistance.
According to different association statistics, nearly 8,000 buses and minibuses were operated on different routes in the city. Some 40,000 workers are directly or indirectly involved with these buses. Now they are not getting any support from their respective unions, associations and owners.
Mohakhali Bus Terminal president Hazi Abdul Kalam told Bangladesh Post, "We are abiding by the government directives. Even though it was said we will get food and financial assistance, many workers are still out of this government privilege. We did our best till we could."