“Buy chicken meat in the middle, even half a kg”

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Housekeeper Sumi Begum lives with her husband and son in Boubazar of Karail Basti. The three of them live in a one-room house in the slum, the rent of which is Tk 4,500 per month.

Forty-something Sumi Begum works as a cleaner and cook in a flat in T&T Colony in Mohakhali. Get eight thousand rupees a month. Her husband Zobayed Ali drives a pedal-powered rickshaw. The owner of the rickshaw has to pay 200 taka from the income from the street. He has 400-500 taka. With the income of both husband and wife, it is difficult to meet the monthly expenses of this family of three members.

Suman, the only son of Sumi-Jobayed couple, has studied up to class 10. But could not pass SSC. Now working as a construction worker. However, it has not worked that way for three months. Earlier he used to pay his own expenses. Sometimes parents also helped. Now you have to take your own expenses from them.

Sumi Begum spoke to Boubazar of Karail Basti on Thursday afternoon. He said word by word, ‘Earlier when my son had some income, then beef was eaten at least once a month. Don’t buy beef anymore. How to bring so much support? Give it up at once for two-three months.’

Sumi Begum said, “We have to calculate every day” and said that due to the increase in the price of daily commodities, many other things have been left out of the food list. Noting that once the price of something in the market increases and does not decrease, he said, “The suffering of the poor people is over.” Buy chicken occasionally. That’s half a kilo. First, eat a whole chicken. Tao Kak Murgi Ansi. The price of chicken has also gone up.

The prices of vegetables, chicken and eggs have been increasing in the capital’s retail market for quite some time. This has affected people with limited income like Sumi Begum.

Rashida Begum is another resident of Karail Basti. She works as a maid in a flat in Gulshan. His salary is Rs 10,000 per month. Rashida’s husband Sohel Mia is a carpenter. The day there is work, the day he earns. Even if there is no work, there is no income. If you get a job, you get a daily wage of 800 taka. However, there is no work for almost half the days of the month. Rashida Begum said that the family of five members is running somehow with her husband’s irregular income and her own little income.

Sohail-Rashida couple have three children. The elder son Rakibul studied in a college in the capital, but he could not remember which college. Sumaiya, the elder of the two girls, is a student of class VIII. And the younger daughter Sadia is five years old.

Rashida Begum came to Dhaka from Nalitabari in Sherpur in search of livelihood. From the beginning, she worked as a housekeeper in people’s homes. The conversation took place yesterday afternoon in front of his house. In words, he said, due to the increase in the price of products in the market, potatoes and small fish are the only hope. Meat is not eaten much.

Rashida Begum said that not only food, but also many other essential things of the world have to be left out, the only thought is how to spend the day at a low cost.

Rashida Begum said that earlier, four thousand taka was included with the house rent and the cost of gas. Now we have to buy wood for cooking separately. 1000-1200 rupees per month is being spent on buying wood. The gas connection in the slum was disconnected six-seven months ago as it was illegal. Since then, both costs and suffering have increased.

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“She needs to be fed”

Jobeda Begum works in a house in T&T Colony of the capital, taking children to school and cleaning the house two days a week. His income from this work is five thousand taka per month. In the meantime, 3 thousand 500 taka went to the house rent of the slum; Only 1 thousand 500 rupees in hand.

Another resident of Karail Basti, Jobeda Begum, has made life very difficult because of her husband’s illness. Her husband Mizanur Mia used to sell Chanachur by ferry. Suddenly the problem of tonsils in the throat was diagnosed. After the surgery, he was a kind of ‘household’ for the last three months.

Jobeda had to take a loan of about one lakh taka to handle her husband’s treatment and household expenses. Of this, 80,000 taka was taken from a village association. He took the remaining 20,000 taka from a slum dweller with high interest.

Meghla, the only daughter of the Mizanur-Jobeda couple, studies in class one in a school in Akhtar Basti.

Jobeda said, “He gives some from his in-laws’ house, some from his father’s house.” Having to rely on others to run the family. Sometimes I buy eggs, if I find fish at a low price, I bring them. There is a little girl at home, she has to be fed.

Jobeda Begum hopes that the situation will change a little if her husband joins a new job. She is one of the women of Karail Basti who got ‘Family Card’.

According to the announcement of the government, under the ‘Family Card’ program, the beneficiary families will get an allowance of Tk 2,500 per month. On March 10, Prime Minister Tariq Rahman formally inaugurated the program at the T&T playground adjacent to Karail slum. At that time, the government informed that 37 thousand 567 families will be brought under this allowance experimentally in the month of June.

Jobeda Begum also received an allowance of 2.5 thousand taka over the phone on the day of the inauguration of the ‘Family Card’ program on March 10. However, he has not yet received the allowance in this month of April.

Jobeda Begum said, in the condition of her family, it would be a great benefit to receive the allowance money on a specific date every month.