Three months ago, Shahidul Islam started a makeshift shop in the capital’s bustling Karwan Bazar area in order to support his family living at a village in Barisal.
But his only income source has already come under threat thanks to frequent political shutdowns by the opposition alliance.
“I used to keep the shop open during the hartals earlier this year. But nowadays shutdowns have become so violent I do not dare anymore. I do not want to die in clashes between police and hartal supporters,” he told The Daily Star.
The 49-year-old breadwinner of a seven-member family sells tea, biscuits, cigarettes, breads and banana from morning to night at the western side of the Karwan Bazar underpass.
He runs the tin-roofed stall in an area that bears the most brunt during any political shutdown, as it is located on one of the busiest streets of the capital.
Asked how he recoups the loss due to shutdowns, Shahidul said, “There is no other way.”
The father of five sleeps at a nearby cinema hall at night, as he cannot afford to rent a room or bed in a mess frequented by people living alone in Dhaka.
He said he could neither bring his family to the capital as the living cost here is ever rising.
“The whole family relies on my income,” said Shahidul, who can save between Tk 150 and Tk 200 a day from sales.
He sends Tk 3,000 to his family in Barisal. With this his wife has to maintain the family, which includes four school-going children.
In a sense, Shahidul is not alone, as there are thousands in the city and beyond the city who suffer the same financial losses whenever any political party calls for a hartal.
Kamruzzaman Lalin, manager of SR Foreign Furniture in Panthapath, one of the largest stores for non-branded furniture in the capital, said the losses from the shutdowns are never recouped.
“Our businesses depend on day-to-day sales. Any loss imposed by any political cause is not recovered,” he said, “Retailers cannot afford to bear such losses.”
Shamsul Alam, who sells both wooden and non-wooden doors at a store in Farmgate area, said the slowdown in business had deepened further due to shutdowns.
Their financial turmoil is only a tiny part of the fall-out the country’s economy is going through due to violence on streets. Experts blame mistrust among major political parties for this.
Micro, small and medium-sized businesspeople said shutdowns in Bangladesh had taken new shape.
“In the past, businesses were disrupted only on hartal days. But nowadays, the day before shutdown also witnesses sharp fall in sales due to thin presence of shoppers. This is because hartal supporters have now indulged in destructive activities even on the day before hartals,” said one businessman.
This resulted in people avoiding non-essential outings, he said referring to yesterday’s torching of vehicles in the capital.
Businesspeople said most businesses run on a supply chain. If one part of a chain is affected, the whole chain suffers.
According to an estimate by the International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh, each nationwide shutdown costs the country $ 200 million.
Since January, the opposition alliance has observed 13 days as hartals. There were also district-wise hartals, which affected local businesses.
A number of shop-owners in Panthapath and Green Road areas said small and medium businesses cannot afford sales disruption for a week in a month.
There are also shops that defy shutdowns and keep the businesses open despite the heavy risk that their businesses could be attacked and set on fire.
“If shutdowns are enforced for a week in a month, we are left with no other choice. We have to keep the shop open to make a living,” said Kamal Hossain, who manages a branch of a courier service company.
Economists said small shop owners such as Shahidul or Kamal faced the most brunt of political shutdowns. They urged all political parties to sort out their differences quickly to give general people some relief.
On one hand, their incomes are curtailed while on the other, they have to buy essential commodities at a higher price, as shutdowns disrupt supply chain, pushing up prices of the essentials, said Zaid Bakht, a research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
Economists and chambers have already warned of dire economic consequences if hartals are not shunned. They say the shutdowns will not only destroy public property and lives but also slow down the economic growth, discourage new investment, shoo away potential investors and dent the country’s hope to become a middle income nation by next decade.
The BNP-led opposition alliance has called 36-hour shutdown from today demanding release of its arrested activists and protest, what it called, “the recent genocide”. (Source)
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