By Aynal Haque
RAJSHAHI, June 19, 2021 (BSS) – A total of 7,200 more newly constructed
houses have been made almost ready for handing over to homeless and landless
families as a gift from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Mujib Year in the
division.
Dr Abdul Mannan, Additional Commissioner of Rajshahi division, told BSS
that construction works of most of the houses were already completed in the
second phase as the formal handing over of its ownership by Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina will be held tomorrow.
The homeless and landless families are getting the disaster resilient
houses to mark the Mujib Borsho, the birth centenary of Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in all eight districts of the division.
In the first phase, a total of 7,119 landless and homeless people were
given houses on the occasion of Mujib Borsho in Rajshahi division in January
last, Dr Mannan added.
The government at the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been
providing them with the houses to alleviate their poverty through giving
shelters and human resource development activities.
“We have given a list of 37,643 families who have neither house nor land
and got allocation for 14,329 of them in the two consecutive phases,” Dr
Mannan said, adding that the rest of the people are expected to get housing
facilities.
On behalf of Ashrayan Project-2 of the Prime Minister’s Office, the
Department of Disaster Management (DDM) has built the houses, he added.
Main thrust of the initiative is to improve the standard of living, ensure
basic education, health care and skill development on income generating
activities of the poor people.
Dr Mannan said the construction of the houses is a laudable step of the
government.
The homeless and landless families are getting their shelters to live
permanently in these houses as ensuring the quality of the houses is a top
priority, he said.
As per commitment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, all the distressed
families will be brought under the disaster resilient houses in the division,
in phases.
Aminul Haque, District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer, said each of the
semi-pucca houses with two bedrooms, one kitchen, one toilet, common space
and veranda were built at a cost of Taka 1.91 lakh.
The floors and walls of the houses are brick-built as the roofs were made
by corrugated sheet, he said.
He added that the houses were made colorfully and eye-catching. The
disaster resistant houses reveal the images of laudable and lasting
development activities of the government.
Earlier, another 3,022 distressed families were given brick-built houses
for the first time in the division.
The distressed people, who have at least one to ten decimal of land but no
house, were given the brick-built houses as gift of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina till June last year.
The DDM has constructed the rural level houses under its Disaster Resilient
House Building Project (DRHBP) that has been implemented as a rural
infrastructure reconstruction programme.
Aminul Haque said each of the houses with two bedrooms, one kitchen, one
toilet and one corridor was built at a cost of around Taka 2.58 lakh by close
supervision of the respective local house building committee.