Chader Kona with walking disabilities resumes hunger strike for government job

Mahbuba Hoque Chader Kona, a woman from Sirajganj with a postgraduate degree and walking disabilities, has resumed a hunger strike after finding no suitable job promised by the government.

The woman who has a first-class MA degree from Eden College in Dhaka, had begun the strike in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on Oct 16, according to her brother Mahbubur Rahman Ripon.

“For the past four days, Apu (sister) has been eating nothing, has become very sick. Now she is being given saline," he told bdnews24.com.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assured Kona of getting her a suitable government job three days after she staged demonstration in front of the press club on June.  She returned home in Sirajganj following the assurance.

A suitable government job will arranged for Kona, Prime Minister‘s Special Assistant Biplab Barua had told bdnews24.com at that time.

Kona was offered a temporary employment as office assistant cum computer operator in the office of welfare trust for physical disabilities run by the social welfare ministry. She was offered Tk 560 per day.

“But Apu wanted a job matching her qualification. That is why she did not accept the job and started the hunger strike,” said Ripon.

Asked whether any fresh initiative would be taken by the government, Barua told bdnews24.com on Friday, “Given the condition of the girl, she was offered a job. But she did not accept it. She said she should be given a second-class job in line with her qualification.”

“The PSC, a constitutional institution, can offer a second-class job. The PSC recruitment process follows rules. There is no provision for direct recruitment in the PSC.”

“Kona can do well in the proposed job,” added the prime minister’s special assistant.

A bout of polio took away her ability to walk when she was 9 months old Chader Kona, daughter of Abdul Quader from Biara village in Kazipur in the southern district

She walks and does all her daily chores with her hands.

Her mother Hasna Hena Begum was a school teacher and the sole breadwinner in the family.

A few years after Hena’s death when Chader Kona was an undergraduate student, her father Quader suffered a stroke and lost the ability to work.

Undeterred by the poverty, she started earning money by operating computers at a shop and working in TV programmes.

Asked why she is looking for government job, she had earlier told bdnews24.com: “I often fall ill due to my disabilities, so it will be difficult for me to continue in a private job.”

Her disabilities or illness will not stop her if she gets a government job, she said, recalling her struggle to get proper education.

"My classes were held on the fourth floor at Madar Baksh College. I used to go to college at 7am if I had a class from 9am as it took me one and a half hours to climb the stairs on my hands,” she said.