The Life and Days of (Dalit) Sweepers in Bangladesh
Dirtiness, garbage, bad smell and nasty bio-products are part of their lives
Muzibur Rahman Masud, Daily Jugantor, Bangladesh
About 3.5 million sweepers belonging to the Dalit (so called lower cast of the Hindus) community across the country including the capital have been passing an inhuman and sub-standard life amid unbearable pains, enormous sufferings, serious accommodation problem and deep uncertainty. The number of Dalit people only in the capital is about half million. The sweepers or Dalits, one of the 44 scheduled cast communities, is the most neglected section of the society.
No authority is there to look after the sweepers who passes their nights only to wake up in the morning to clean the dirties and city garbage. They have been working for 365 days of the year but their reserved colonies are being occupied one after another by musclemen. They have been deprived of all types of civil facilities including education and health care services. They have been passing their days in unbearable sorrows and sufferings without electricity, pure drinking water and supply of gas. The recruitment of sweepers in government jobs has also been decreased. The shanties in their colonies are not hygienic so that their children have been suffering from different type of diseases. The female sweepers are being raped and oppressed frequently during their work in the night. The City Corporations and police stations are not taking actions against the culprits despite repeated complaints, rather, they are being oppressed by the authorities.
The Telegu and Kanpuri speaking sweepers have no educational or health care service centre in their colonies. The pregnant sweepers have no maternity leave, even there is no maternity or mother care facilities in the colony. Some of these colonies have few numbers of primary schools but there is no adequate language teacher. Some of non-government organizations (NGO) have been collecting huge amount of money but it is not being used for their welfare.
The government slogan ‘Education for All’ carries little value there. For these reasons, some of the Dalit guardians have sent up their children to nearby schools and colleges by changing their identity and address. There is no space for walking, enough drainage system in the colonies. In this condition, the sweepers in deep frustration. They have submitted memorandums containing their various demands to the authorities even to the Prime Minister but no results came yet. They have also failed to the Mayor of Dhaka Sadek Hossain Khoka and Local Government and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan despite repeated attempts.
In earlier days, they used to enjoy life by drinking liquor, taking ganza and country-made liquor but it became a daydream for them today. They have no money to buy liquor. They have no money for colourful function during the marriage ceremonies. Even the members of the Shawtal community arrange pleasure-festival along with liquor and ganza after the death of a Shawtal to forget the pain. They join the function cheerfully and enjoy it. They consider that the death free detached the men from all types of sufferings and made him free from all hardships and problems. On the other hand, they arrange a weeklong .mourning programme after the birth of a child considering that the newborn baby would face enormous sufferings during his lifetime.
Shyama Proshad, a sweeper leader told this reporter that the secret meaning of the festival with the death is different. We do it to forget the sorrows. All these information here revealed after this journalist visited the Ganoktuli, Dayaganj, Dhalpur, Sutrapur, Agargaon and Mohammadpur sweeper colonies.
Dateline: Ganoktuli Sweeper Colony
Over one lakh sweepers live in the Ganoktuli Sweeper Colony located on a piece of 20 acres of land by the side of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Headquarters at Pilkhana. The people are living, among them 50 percent are sweepers. The colony was erected only for the sweepers but local terrorists, muscleman and drug traders and mostly heroin, liquor and ganza sellers have occupied a major portion of it. Local influential persons have already forcibly captured about two acres of colony land.
The condition of entire colony is nasty and unhygienic, discomfort environment. Life is here very difficult more than the imagination. The residents of the colony have been passing their days in inhuman condition live in their small shanties along with serious bad smell of dirt and garbage. Scarcity of pure drinking water all over the colony is so high. Water supply to the colony is dirty. There are only four to five water taps in the colony. Whole daylong queue surrounding these taps is a common scene. They bath here and collect their drinking water from these taps. There is no separate arrangement for the females. The dustbin is located in front of the slum house due to scarcity of land. The minor boys and girls used to respond the nature’s call on the roadside drains. The kids and band of pigs used to play together. They wash their dishes and other kitchen instruments by the drain water. The mosquitoes and flies gathered on the dirt. There is no scope to fresh breath because of the huge congested slum house in the colony. There are over 100 unauthorized make-shift centres of country made liquor, ganza, Phensidyl and heroin outside the colony. Terrorist and violent acts here centering the drug business are common phenomenon. The local musclemen under the direct shelter of law and order forces run the drug business, so that nobody dared to protest them.
Local people said that there is no health care centre in the colony. There is only a primary school but the scope of education of the sweepers children is limited. There is no teacher who has some expertise on their language. Lashkar, a member of the Dalit community alleged that their children are neglect and harassed in the school. So that they loss their interest in the school. The availability of drugs in the colony made the juveniles and teenagers drug addict. Even they have been becoming vagabond, terrorist and musclemen.
Dayaganj Sweeper Colony
Dayaganj Sweeper Colony is located in the old party of the capital. About 50,000 sweepers reside with fear and uncertainty. Most of the areas of the colony have already been occupied by the miscreants and rest part is now under threat of eviction. The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) authorities have built a market there evicting the sweepers but they were not given even a single position. Local terrorists are threatening to capture the rest portion of the colony. Fearing terrorist attacks, some of the sweepers have already left the colony. Local influential groups have set up drug selling centres showing the sweepers.
Local police officials with a regular gap raid the drug spots and arrest the innocent sweepers but the culprits influential quarters remain untouched. There is no way to lead healthy life in the colony because of scarcity of electricity, supply of water and other basic facilities. The garbage and dirt is everywhere and huge congested slum houses made them helpless human being.
Agargaon PWD Sweeper Colony
About 1000 sweeper families have been passing their measurable days on a small land near Dhaka Orthopedic Hospital in the city’s Agargaon area. The normal breathing would be hampered seriously if any body enter into the colony. There is no room for walking inside the colony. They have been living here by erecting shanties by bamboo and sacks. The government recently circulated eviction notice on them without ascertaining any reason. They are counting days for more sufferings. They have been paying Taka 2 everyday to the local police to stay here. The musclemen of nearby BNP Basti are running a drug spot using the sweepers. The entire western side of the colony has already occupied by the miscreants. They have been collecting tolls for the cleaners for their staying in their own colonies.
Dhalpur Sweeper Colony
The situation is comparatively better here than the other sweeper colonies in the capital but the real sweepers are now under threat here. About 2000 families of Kanpuri speaking sweepers have been living in the colony on 6.7 acres of land. At least 200 slum houses of the colony have already been captured by local influential persons. The real sweepers are now under threat. The sweepers were allocated the colony after constructing eight rows of 10/10 feet houses. A good number sweeper have been already left the colony in the face of threat by the local terrorists and influential political leaders.
Local people alleged that most of the houses of this colony and nearby City Palli are now drug-selling centre. After evening, the gathering of drug addicts and anti-social elements with liquor, heroin, ganza and Phensidyl is a regular phenomenon here. The drug syndicate used to sell huge quantity of liquor worth about Tk seven to eight lakhs everyday. Scarcity of electricity and pure drinking water is a common picture. They pass their lives in between the light and darkness of the colony.
Spotlight-Mohammadpu Sweeper Colony
About 1000 sweepers are living in Mohammadpur Sweeper Colony with 200 houses of different shapes but the sweepers are not allowed to stay here. These houses have already been captured by miscreants and made it as dens of drug peddlers. Drugs like alcohol, ganza, heroin and Phensidyl worth about Tk four to five lakhs are being sold here everyday. Many sweepers were evicted from their house at gunpoint for selling drugs in their houses. Dirt and garbage cover the entire colony. It is very difficult to live here like a wet place. Not only in these colonies, there are a good number of lower cast Dalit people of the Hindu community have been passing their measurable days and lives in Mirpur, Shyampur, Gulshan, Islampur and Badda areas of the capital.
While visiting the colony, this reporter met the President of Bangladesh Dalitas Human Rights B G Murti who narrated the lives of the lowers of the lower cast Hindus. BG Murti said that the sweepers have been engaged in cleaning profession by birth and tradition. “We are the citizens of this country, we fought for the independence of the country, whereas we have been identified as untouched.” he said. He claimed that about 35 laks of sweepers and lower cast people like cobbler, shoe-maker, smith and kamars have been staying all over the country. Our people have been engaged throughout the day to clean up the government offices, hospitals, educational institutions, different private and non-government offices and roads under city corporations and tea gardens of the country, whereas we do not have enough food for feeding our children, BG added. The scope to enter into the government jobs has been shrinking day by day. In most of the cases, the non-professionals have been capturing the posts of sweepers by offering bribes.
The Dalit leader alleged that we have been deprived of the government jobs as the government has decided that no man would be appointed as sweeper without having a class eight-pass certificate. The present government so far recruited about 3500 sweepers in different offices but there is only a boy from the community. Not only that the boy from the sweeper community also paid a handsome amount of money to the employer for the job.
He alleged that we are being ousted from our colonies, the law and order agencies don’t hear to us. It seems we are not the citizens of this country. The sweepers have no permanent job, they have been working on daily basis. There is no leave for a day in a month. We have been forced to work even in the Eid Day and Puja-festivals, but our salary is maximum Taka 2000 to 2500.
BG Murti told that a large number of sweepers in different colonies are now infected by different critical diseases and became drug addicts. A good number of children have already died of different diseases. At least a male sweeper is being tortured or a female sweeper is being raped everyday by terrorists and musclemen.
Shamsul Huda, Executive Director of Alliance for Development Support & Cooperation, a rare organisation working with Dalit people told this reporter that the sweepers are deprived of all type of facilities from the government. As per the constitution of the country, a member of the sweeper community is granted all of his basic and citizens’ rights but they are far away from the constitutional rights.
According to the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (CERD) agreement, the government is bound to fulfill the basic needs of employment, housing, education and health care services of the lower cast people. But, only before the election, the ruling and the opposition parties come to them but after the election nobody inquired about them. The government and semi-government offices have been recruiting non-professional people as sweepers, though there are a clear-cut rule for recruitment of sweepers from the Dalits community. Even after liberation till 1975, they were allowed to enjoy three-month leave and had awarded money for drinking and other facilities but those are daydream for them.
B. Samuddram, a witness of over 100 years
B. Samuddram, a 125 years oldman of Agargaon Sweeper Colony told this reporter that during the British regime about 50 sweeper families sent to Pakisthan from Kanpur, Nagpur and Andhra provice of Indian when the toture and opression on the lower cast people were alamingly increased. They were initially appointed as sweeper to the Dhaka Samity. Later, more sweepers came to them from those provices. The migrated lower cast people had engaged in different sectors as sweepers as there was a few people to be appointed as sweeper. There are about 3.5 million sweepers in the country, he claimed adding that though their forefathers are from different countries but now they are all Bangladeshi citizens.
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