As soaring inflation has pushed up living cost sharply, lower-income people want measures in the next budget to keep prices of essentials affordable as well as policy support to generate more employment for them and fresh graduates.
They also called for increasing allocation for social safety net programme to help the marginalised people, mostly person with disability, widow, aged people and vulnerable group to lessen their financial hardship.
Common people including retiree, rickshaw puller, tea stall keeper and small entrepreneurs came up with the call while sharing their expectation from the next budget to be placed on Thursday in parliament.
“If commodity prices don’t come down to an affordable level and social safety measures are not expanded maintaining social status will be very tough,” Ziaul Kabir, a retired headmaster of a government primary school from Gopalganj, told The Business Post.
“I receive Tk 12, 800 per month as pension allowance. I have mother, wife and three sons and no one earns right now. Can you imagine how such a large family can run with this scanty amount of money that comes as pension?”
His elder son used to do a small business. But due to Covid-19 his business was closed. Another son completed Master’s Degree in Social Science but he is still unemployed. Out of the three, the other son will attend the HSC exam. Kabir retired in 2019.
“How can I manage my family with the little money I draw while the price of everything has gone up?” Ziaul questioned with a blank expression.
Rickshaw puller Jabbar said it was impossible for him to maintain a family of five with the daily earning of Tk 500-Tk 600 as prices of rice, pulse and vegetables are beyond his reach.
He urged the government to do something in the budget so that prices of daily essentials decrease.
Mofiz Hossain said he was not earning a fat amount of money as a security guard of a house but the prices of basic needs such as rice, oil, pulse and fishes were very high.
“If the government reduces the prices of daily items, we can at least survive,” the helpless security guard said.
Small poultry businessmen are facing severe difficulties with high prices of poultry feed and treatment cost while the price of poultry is low, said Hiron Mia, a small poultry businessman.
After giving a certain amount of money from the business to local leaders and paying high transportation cost they have nothing left, he added.
Tea stall keeper Salam said the price of one can of condensed milk had gone up by Tk 15 and a bun by Tk 5 to Tk 15 from Tk 10. Sugar, biscuit and cake prices have also risen.
Less number of people is now coming to the stall leading to a decline in the earning, he said in a tone of frustration.
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Less earning and more expenditure is now a major concern. “We are requesting the government to cut the prices of sugar, milk, bun and other daily essentials in the upcoming budget.”
Generating employment is the burning issues while 20 lakh students come to job market but they do not get proper response, said Asik Shourov, a graduated job seeker.
He said, “I joined a private firm for a salary of Tk 12, 000 and later I quit my job and started to find a government job.”
Even doing business is also difficult because of the complex paper work and bankers’ tendency not to grant loan to fresh graduates.
The budget needs to put focus on creating positive environment for small businesses rather than elephant projects to generate more employment, he suggested.
“We cannot think anything without price drop in the essential goods such as rice, flour, oil, sugar and so on. We expect that the upcoming budget will meet our demand by setting the price at affordable cost,” housewife Nilufa Begum said.
The government has to continue the TCB services to provide daily needs at a lower cost to help people survive the hard time.
