In 7 days, the freelancers incurred loss worth Tk 150 crore

The Bangladeshi freelancers have incurred a financial loss of about Tk 150 crore due to the internet shut down for suppressing the protests and violence amid the quota reform movement. Due to the sudden disconnection of communication and not being able to keep the commitment, this loss is more in the long term and has damaged the branding image of the country, said the Chairman of the Freelancer Development Society (BFDS) Dr. Tanjiba Rahman. She is worried that if this status is not restored in the next three months, getting new work and maintaining the ranking of freelancers will be in question.

Freelancing with health services highlighted the loss of the last 7 days of internet isolation. Dr.Tanjiba Rahman said, according to the information of Bangladesh Bank, our freelancers have lost about 150 crore taka in 5 days due to the shutdown of broadband internet. But in the current year, the long-term impact on it will be around Tk 500 crore more.

Applauding the government for opening the mobile internet on Sunday, she said, we who work as freelancers with clients from different countries of the world, the main means of our work is broadband internet connection. Based on this all our activities are conducted. The broadband internet connection was stopped on the night of July 18 (Thursday) without any announcement from the authorities. As a result, we didn't even get a chance to tell our clients why the country's internet has been shut down or how long it will be shut down. But our freelancers are given deadlines for every project or work. To work with foreign companies, the relevant project needs to be updated regularly. Also, the project has to be completed and delivered within a certain period of time. If the work is not completed and submitted within the stipulated time as per the commitment, our payment stops. Clients' trust in Bangladeshi freelancers has decreased due to internet shutdown. Now our challenge is to recover it.

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Se also said that about 5 lakh freelancers are working online in our country. For those who are old like us, their clients may not have gone away. Roughly we can handle the situation. Because online jobs are usually, clients hire freelancers because of their commitment, punctuality, communication skills and relationships. Our gig job reviews are offered on the online marketplace. I got the job accordingly. But the picture is different for newcomers. In such a situation they have suffered a lot. Because somehow, for some reason, if the freelancers can't update the project, there is a communication problem, then the foreign companies stop the project.

In order to prevent freelancers across the country from falling into such a situation in the future, BFDS has also informed that those who have received ID cards as government-recognized freelancers will be given an internet line from an internet hub organized by the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) informed the chairman of the organization.

He said, through this, it will be possible to stop those who are scamming the freelancing career, as well as uninterrupted internet operation. That's why I request to the government, any disaster can happen in the country at any time. But in this way, without making any announcement, the internet service should never be stopped in the future. What we have suffered. If there is such a loss in the coming days, how will the government support us, what kind of support can be, we want to solve the crisis by sitting together and discussing. Everyone in our IT sector needs to work together on the Internet. We can't move forward all alone. That's why I talked to all the organizations after the internet was cut off. In view of this, I thank the government for giving priority to freelancers while opening broadband internet connection first.