Over the last couple of weeks, Abdus Sobhan, a day labourer in the capital, saw his earnings drop to almost nothing.
With the government-imposed restrictions taking effect on April 14, the 40-year-old man, who crushes bricks and moves soil at construction sites, could hardly manage any work to make a living.
With very little income and no help around, he is worried about his survival in the city in the coming days as the government extended the restrictions till May 5. I have my elderly parents at my village home to look after. But if I cannot earn, how would I feed my family? Sobhan, who has been living in a slum in the city s Mirpur area for nearly seven years, told this newspaper yesterday.
Although Bangladesh achieved food security and improved access to food, eight percent of the households where the urban poor live still go to sleep with empty stomachs, reveals a government survey.
The first-ever study of its kind also found people of around 12 percent of the poor urban households had no food in their house.
The Urban Socioeconomic Assessment Survey (USAS) 2019 was conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics from December 8 to 26 last year.
There was not enough food at over 21 percent of the households surveyed and 20.64 percent of the respondents could not eat what they preferred, said the survey released in the last week of November.