Workers desperate to leave Narayanganj

Workers from Narayanganj and Munshiganj were still trying desperately to leave for their homes at different districts using waterways and goods-laden trucks on highways amid the nationwide shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Authorities said that the waterways still remained a major concern for the spread of the novel virus as workers from Narayanganj were using trawlers and bulkheads to sneak back into their home districts in Barishal division and Kishorganj.

Police so far have detained over a thousand people as they were sneaking out of Narayanganj, one of the COVID-19 hotspots, through river ways.

Meanwhile, many workers from Narayanhanj, Mushiganj and Dhaka were still trying to leave for their village homes for northern districts on goods-laden trucks, said the police.

Local authorities have shut down Pirojpur district for an indefinite period to contain the spread of coronavirus as over half of the districts in the country are now under total lockdown and many partially.

Entrance to and exit from the districts under lockdown have been banned until further instruction, said authorities in the districts.

The government enforced countrywide transport shutdown from March 26 and the coronavirus-hit Narayanganj was put under total lockdown on April 8 so that no one can leave the district.

The homebound workers are mainly from brickfields and readymade garment factories, said Aslam Hossain, officer-in-charge of Fatullah police station.

He said that several hundred brickfield workers had been trying to leave Narayanganj for Kishorganj on trawlers and bulkheads over the last few days and police stopped at least four such trawlers and bulkheads recently.

At least 120 people were detained and sent back to their places of residence in Narayanganj on Wednesday night.

Earlier on Tuesday night, around 500 people were also barred from leaving through waterways, said Aslam, adding that they also seized over 20 goods-laden trucks as those were transporting people illegally.

Our correspondent in Munshiganj reported that river police detained 77 workers in Dhaleshwari River while they were on their way to their village homes in Barishal division on early Friday.

The detained people were brickfield workers at Fatullah of Narayanganj. They were sent back to Fatullah, said Muktarpur river police outpost in-charge Kabir Hossain Khan.

Police officials said that the workers in Narayanganj are panicked due to the outbreak of COVID-19 there and moreover they do not have any work right now. ‘So it is becoming difficult to make them stay where they are,’ he added.

IEDCR data made available on Thursday night showed that Barishal division had at least 25 COVID-19 cases and most of them were Narayanganj returnees, said the district superintendent of police Saiful Islam. Barishal district has confirmed 15 coronavirus infections, he added.

Barishal sadar river police station OC Abdullah Al Mamun said that they detained 261 people when they were trying to enter the district from Dhaka and its adjacent districts on early Tuesday and later they were all sent back.

The authorities were converting a launch, MV Surovi-8, into a quarantine centre for people returning to the southern districts through waterways, Barishal port officer Ajmal Huda told New Age, adding that the returnees would be placed there as part of institutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, lockdown in the capital was enforced more strictly on Friday than last few days as the Directorate General of Health Services on Thursday declared the whole country as risky for COVID-19 infections, prohibiting movement from dusk to dawn.

Vehicle movements also thinned out and gatherings subsided as commodity selling points stopped operation after an official decision to discontinue distribution.

Some people, however, tried to offer Juma prayers at different mosques violating lockdown guidelines. Police in many places attempted to send them back to their homes.

Different mosque staff also refused to allow people in the mosques for Juma prayers.

Imam Abul Hasan of Kataban Mosque said that 10 mosque staff offered the prayer there. Few people tried to enter to participate but they were denied entry.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net