Report on sufferings of slum dwellers in Dhaka for HSC
Practicing report writing is an excellent writing activity to develop writing skills. Hence report writing is included in the syllabus of the HSC examination to improve students’ expertise in writing. The report on the sufferings of the slum dwellers in Dhaka is supposed to be one of the important newspaper reports for the HSC examinees to be written in their exams.
Sufferings of the slum dwellers in Dhaka
Special correspondent, The Daily Star, April 2, 2024: Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, is an overpopulated city. At least 20 million people live in this city. Among them, nearly 4 million people live in different city slums.
To see the lifestyle of the slum dwellers the reporter of this report has visited some of the slums of Dhaka city. The reporter has seen the sufferings of the slum dwellers being present in person.
The slum dwellers live in makeshift houses. The houses are made of bamboo, tin, polythene, etc. The size of each house is too small to reside even a small family of four members.
The sanitation facility in the slums is deplorable. On average there is one toilet for at least fifty people. There is no legal water, electricity, and gas connection in the slums. The slum dwellers use all these extremely essential utility facilities illegally. As a result, they pay higher rates to pay the price of the utility charges. The slum dwellers pay the bill to the local influencers. However, at times the concerned government authorities disconnect the lines of water, gas, and electricity. This adds much suffering to the lives of the slum dwellers. They again get the utility services connection by paying more money to the local influential leaders.
The walkways of the slums are too narrow to walk two people alongside. When it rains the lanes become muddy and slum dwellers face much hardship to walk. The reporter visited several slums. But he did not see any open space in any of the slums for children to play let alone a playground.
While visiting a large slum in the city’s Mirpur area the reporter saw faulty and poor waste management. As there is no proper waste management system in the slum the slum dwellers throw the garbage on the drain or by the side of the narrow lane. The waste emits an unhealthy and offensive odor. Garbage piles are ideal habitats for harmful insects. Germs and stench of waste play a huge role in spreading fatal diseases among the slum dwellers.
Drain water cannot move smoothly because of polythene and waste. As a result, the drains of the slum have become a favorable living and breeding place for mosquitoes. So, mosquito-borne diseases are a common phenomenon in the slums.
There is no pre-primary or primary school inside the slums for the children of the slum dwellers. Government schools are not available around the slums. The private schools are expensive. So, it is difficult for the slum dwellers to educate their children. The slum children are born and brought up in a vulnerable environment. Because the slums in Dhaka city lack sanitation, hygiene, pure water, healthy surroundings, playgrounds, etc. All these facilities are tremendously essential for the proper and beautiful growth of the children.
There is no health care center for the kids and the women inside the slums. So, in case of emergency, it becomes tough for the slum dwellers to get medical support. Sometimes medical teams of some NGOs provide healthcare services to the slum dwellers. But this is a temporary solution. There should be permanent medical treatment facilities for the slum dwellers.
The low-income people of the city live in the slums. The average income of a family is twelve thousand takas. Garments workers, rikshaw pullers, day laborers, street hawkers, etc. professionals living in slums with their families. They pay 3 to 4 thousand takas for the rent of a small house. The remaining money of their income is not enough to meet the expenses of their livelihood. So, they cannot buy good food and good clothes for themselves and their kids.
The slum dwellers of Dhaka city come to Dhaka in search of work from different districts of Bangladesh. They somehow manage a tiresome low-paying job and start living in a slum.
While talking to the reporter the slum dwellers demanded that the government eradicate some problems like water and electricity immediately. In response to the query, the concerned government officials informed that the government has chalked out an elaborate program to alleviate the sufferings of the slum dwellers. The program includes skill development training for employment, rehabilitation of the slum dwellers in a better habitat, food support, medical support, etc.
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