One lakh more families that have no land and houses, are expected to get homes by the month of June free of cost as gifts from the Prime Minister on the occasion of Mujib Borsho, said sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
According to sources, 50,000 out of those 1,00,000 families will get their houses by the month of April in the second phase while the rest 50,000 families will get the houses by the month of June in the third phase.
In the first phase, about 70,000 families have already been given houses free of cost last January.
Officials concerned at the PMO said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed them to complete the construction of 50,000 houses by April 7 so that these 50,000 houses could be handed over to people by the month of April.
The PMO also issued letters on February 11 with directives in this regard to all the divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners of all the districts and other officials concerned in the field level administrations.
Earlier in the morning on the same day, a coordination meeting was held at the PMO to discuss progress in the process of the construction of the houses. Chaired by Tofazzal Hossain Mia, Secretary to the PMO, Land Secretary Md. Mostafizur Rahman, Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Mohsin, Mahbub Hossain, Project Director of the PMOs’ Asrayan Prakalpa-2 and other senior officials of the PMO were also present at the meeting.
Quoting PM Sheikh Hasina, PMO Secretary Tofazzal Hossain Mia said that Tk 1,000 crore has been released for the construction of 50,000 houses.
He also said that the Prime Minister has warned everybody concerned saying that no corruption will be tolerated in the house construction.
Asrayan-Prakalpa-2 Director of the PMO Mahbub Hossain said, "There are some minor changes in the design of the new houses. Budget also has been enhanced for the construction. Additional Tk 20,000 will be needed to build each of the houses.
Earlier, Tk 1.75 lakh was allotted for each house, but now it will cost Tk 1.95 lakh for the construction of every house.
The government has taken initiatives of gifting houses to a total of 8,85,622 families, who have no house and land, on the occasion of the ‘Mujib Borsho’. Not only that, many of the families have also been provided a piece of land along with semi-pucca buildings.
The official sources also said that as per the government statistics, there are 2,93,361 families in the country who have neither a home nor any land while there are 5,92,261 families who have land but no houses.
As part of the initiative, about 70,000 people have already been given houses and the initiative has been praised by all the people of the country as well as worldwide.
Earlier in 1997, the first term of Sheikh Hasina as the PM, the government undertook a project named Asrayan aiming at rehabilitating all the landless and homeless families. Under this project, 3, 20,052 landless and homeless were rehabilitated from 1997 to December 2020.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief, Dr. Enamur Rahman said, as per the will of the Prime Minister, not a single person or family in the country will remain homeless.
The state minister said everyone of these people are getting homes as per the dream of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well as of his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
