The Life of the Slum
Staff Correspondence, Dhaka, 7 September, 2022: The number of luxurious apartments in Dhaka city is raising sky high on one side and the number of slums in also on the increase on the other side. The people of these slums lead miserable life without the basic needs of life.
The largest slume of Dhaka is located at Kamalapur. The slum dwellers of Kamalapur are a sad tale to tell. They are always beset with various sorts of problems. Visiting the slum, it seems to the reporter that those people are destined to be suffered.
There are as many as 200 shanties in this shanty-town. People lead here a very much unhygienic life. They are deprived of all basic human rights let alone education. Some non governmental organization have launched education programme for the slum infants. But their activities are not enough.
They do not have any water or sanitation facilities. For this reason, they have to collect and use water from unhygienic sources. Sometimes, for days together they can not have their baths. Sometimes they do not have drinking water. Hence these slum dwellers suffer from diarrhea, dysentery and cholera all the year round.
The women, old and the babies are the worst sufferers. As the slum has no medical facilities, their sufferings become worst when they are attacked by any disease. Due to the life style of the slum, any disease can easily spread out as epidemic form.
Five years earlier, there were less number of people lived here. So the condition of this poor section of the society is deteriorating day after day. It is time the government to take initiatives for the betterment of these undone people.
Sufferings of Slum-Dwellers
Staff Reporter, The Daily Star, April 15, 2022.
The slum-dwellers in different slums in Dhaka live a very hard life. Visiting different slums, this reporter found that all the slums face many problems.
It is estimated that about five lakh people live in different slums. Their number is increasing day by day. They are poor and illiterate. They are day labourer, hawker, rickshaw puller and construction worker. A large section of them are garment workers. Some of them are housekeepers. Again some beg on the streets. All of them get a very poor amount of money. Basically, they live from suffer from hand to mouth. Rahim, a slum-dweller, said that they suffer from many problems. They have no facility of pure drinking water. They don’t have any supply of electricity. Even they have no system of sanitation. They live a very unhealthy life.
Rahima, an old woman, said that women and girls in the slums suffer most. The local mastans tease them, use them and torture them. Sometimes criminals use the slums for taking and selling drugs. They make the slums places for anti- social activities.
The government and political leaders, sometimes make promises to develop the slums. But their promises are never materialized. As a result, the fate of the slum-dwellers remains unchanged.
Comments