Beggars and vendors are coming to the capital ahead of the Eid festival to earn some extra bucks, deteriorating the city's traffic management and occupying the footpaths.
Most of these seasonal fortune-hunters are from relatively under-developed areas, like - Rangpur, Dinajpur, Jamalpur, Bogra, Mymensingh, Barisal, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Kishoreganj and Kurigram etc.
The seasonal city dwellers are mostly working as rickshaw-pullers or driving auto-rickshaws and cabs in different areas with little knowledge or no knowledge at all. Some others are working as temporary helping-hands in different shops or houses before the biggest religious festival of the Muslims.
Many of them are begging at important city crossings and on roads. They have come to the city to make the best of the Ramadan, when people are usually more generous with their charity and the society's rich section donates a large sum as Fitra or Zakat.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to conduct drives against beggars at some important points across the city. But, no drive was conducted till Thursday.
The points are Shahjalal International Airport, Hotel Sonargaon, Hotel Ruposhi Bangla, Hotel Radisson, Baily Road, Gulshan, Banani, Jatiya Sangsad, and the diplomatic zones in the capital.
The Ministry of Social Welfare has finalised the decision and instructed the authorities concerned to prepare for the drive, Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali said.
The decision was taken during an inter-ministerial meeting on special drives against the beggars and their rehabilitation recently.
"Anybody can see there are hundreds of new beggars in the city," said Zunaid Hasnanin, who works for a foreign aid agency.
He said it is the same scenario every year. Their poor knowledge about urban life worsens traffic situation in the capital. Some of them have come to the city to work as vendors or to set up makeshift shops on the footpath, creating problems for the pedestrians.
Shahadat Ullah, a seasonal rickshaw-puller who came from Kurigram to the city a few days before the Ramadan, said he wants to work as a rickshaw-puller and make some money, as he cannot find any work as a day-labourer or hired worker in his home district.
"Every year during the Ramadan, I drive rickshaw in the capital. Last year I earned Tk 18,000 in a month. I hope this year I will earn more."
He said it is very tough to drive rickshaw in Dhaka now, as movement of the vehicle has been prohibited on many streets.
Aman Miah, a beggar from Chuadanga, said there is no work in his district right now. There are a few scopes of working as a day-labourer, but the wages are very low and not enough to maintain his family of seven.
"I eagerly wait for the two Eids. During these two festivals, my income triples. With people giving out Fitra and Zakat, we can eat some delicious foods and feed my children too at home."
He said he spends his nights at Suhrawardy Udyan to skip a portion of his living cost in this 'big and very expensive' city.
A number of seasonal workers and vendors have also thronged the city on the occasion of Eid.
Jibon, a vendor who came from Rajshahi, has set up a makeshift shop, along with his brother, for selling dresses for low-income people in front of the GPO.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic Department officials said during the Ramadan, inexperienced rickshaw-pullers block the streets, making the city's traffic system more anarchic.
According to the Revenue Department of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), only 75,000 rickshaws are plying in the capital with valid registration. Besides, different associations of rickshaw owners and drivers are running around 0.6 million rickshaws.
But the DMP officials said the actual number of rickshaws plying in the capital is more than one million now.
Meanwhile, a DMP official told the FE that they have already taken special measures to keep the traffic situation under control during the Ramadan. Additional traffic policemen have been deployed at different intersections of the city and a drive is going on to stop running of vehicles without proper licence.
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