Prothom Alo Roundtable
Slum kids tell their ordeals
A number of slum children were invited to a roundtable on "Children in city life", organised by the Prothom Alo in collaboration with Unicef, at the newspaper's office in the capital yesterday.Photo: STAR
Deprived children yesterday told tales of their everyday ordeals of living in shanties and requested the government to provide them security and save them from child marriage. They also appealed for not evicting the shantytowns without arranging rehabilitation of their families, as sudden eviction leaves slum children under the open sky. About 15 children from different slums in and around the capital shared their stories of miseries and victimisation at a roundtable at Prothom Alo office in the capital. The daily newspaper in collaboration with Unicef jointly organised the programme. The slum kids said teenage girls in slums very often fell victim to sexual harassment, which compelled their helpless parents to marry them off at a tender age. The deprived children are also prey to drug peddlers, who force them into the crime, they said. Many minor children, whom their parents leave unprotected to go for work, become victim of human traffickers, the kids said, and described sanitation as the worst problem in slums. Prof Nazrul Islam, an urban planner, said evicting slums without arranging rehabilitation was worse than natural calamities, like river erosion and cyclone, as there were a lot of infants being brought up in these places. As the government goes tough against the drug peddlers, said State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanok, the criminals choose slum kids and allured them with money. “Our constitution has ensured children's rights. So the government is working relentlessly for that”, he said. He mentioned that the government was providing Tk 1500 for each of 500 slum children a month in the capital's Lalbagh. Such activities will be extended to 8000 points across the country so that deprived children can meet their fundamental rights, he added. He also said the government already had rescued 55,000 slum children, who were involved in risky jobs. In reply to a question of a slum child about frequent fire incidents in slums like Lalbagh Slum, Nanok said there were several reasons behind such arson attacks. With changing of hands of state power, rent collectors from slums are changed, leading to clashes and arson attacks at the shantytowns, he said. He added the ruling party cadres usually realised such rents illegally. The slum children urged the minister to take steps so that their potentiality could be nurtured, and for this they demanded recovery of local playgrounds from the hands of influential persons and free access to recreational centres like zoo, museum. They also raised a series of problems, including water logging, high rent, and scarcity of drinking water in slums. Prothom Alo Joint Editor Abdul Quaiyum moderated the roundtable.
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