Over 300 permanent and seasonal employees of recreation centres in Jhenaidah, better known as picnic spots and historical places have been leading inhuman lives as they were left jobless for the last five months.
The spots have incurred a loss of around Taka one crore. The impact of the global pandemic corona virus is being blamed for the situation. The people related in the sector demanded of the authorities concerned to reopen the recreation centres in the district for their survival.
Picnic spots sources said there are five recreation centres or parks in Jhenaidah. These are Johan Dream Valley and Picnic Spot on Jhenidah-Chuadanga highway, Tamanna Family Park on Kushtia road, Naldanga Rajbari in Kaliganj, Bakul City Park at Kotchandpur and under construction Prantik Shishu Pally on the bank of Navaganga River on Pobahati road.
While visiting some of the spots, it was witnessed that huge amount of grass and weeds were grown at almost every corners making the environment ghostly. Rides and various gaming instruments and accessories have been damaged as they were not used at all since corona virus hit the country late in March this year.
As the government had imposed ban on gathering of common people at any outside spots, the owners had to shut the spots immediately to avoid contamination of corona virus. They owners have been counting losses since then, said the owners.
Tamanna Family Park Manager Ruhul Amin said all the staff of his park has been leading inhuman lives receiving no salary from the spot since late March.
The authorities concerned had provided some financial assistance to the employees who could not support their families at all. Even the owner of the park has been facing financial constraints since then. Some of the poor employees had already left the spot due to financial crisis.
Some of the employees of a park said they did not receive any financial or material assistance from government since the park was shut following global pandemic had started.
Some owners has been providing some assistance to some of the employees which was too inadequate to meet their need, they said.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Jhenaidah Saroj Kumar Nath said the owners may resume their business if they follow the health guidelines and other conditions properly.
