Photo Feature

Everywhere you look in the capital, high-rise buildings are coming up. We are proud of our ever-extending urban vista and see the glass and concrete towers all around us as evidence that Bangladesh is on the move. But there is a darker side to the construction business that depends on a work-force of tens of thousands of semi-trained and untrained labourers toiling day and night in dangerous conditions for little reward. The construction boom and Dhaka's budding 21st century sky-line are built on the backs of these most exploited and exposed of construction workers, and the next time we admire an impressive new edifice, we should spare a thought for the blood, sweat, and tears that went into its creation.