Bangladesh provides houses for another 53,000 homeless families

The government has provided houses for 53,000 more families as part of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Mujib Year gift.

The prime minister inaugurated the second phase of the project to give houses along with 200 acres of land for free via video conference on Sunday.

“It is our aim to ensure that there are no homeless or landless people in Bangladesh - a dream nurtured by the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. We’re following this policy and will continue to do so,” Hasina said.

She urged everyone to inform the government if they know any homeless people. “We’ll arrange for their housing. I feel that my father’s soul will rest in peace if I can do this much.”

Highlighting her government’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Hasina urged everyone to follow the government’s health protocols.

Hasina provided Tk 50 million in funds from the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust to provide COVID-19 assistance.

The first initiative of the fund has been the construction of houses for homeless people.

The project aims to implement Hasina's plan to leave no one homeless during Mujib Year.

About 70,000 landless and homeless families across the country got their houses along with pieces of land under the project in January.

Another 100,000 families are likely to get houses and land by December.

The government also aims to train marginalised people for jobs, said Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Ahmed Kaykaus. People from different backgrounds have joined the initiative, he said.

In 1997, the Prime Minister's Office initiated the Ashrayan project in order to rehabilitate homeless and landless families, which has been run under the direct supervision of the prime minister.

Under the project, over 373,000 homeless and landless families were given houses from 1997 to 2021.

Marking the Mujib Year, the government introduced 'Housing Policy 2020' to provide houses to all homeless families.

It made lists of over 885,000 homeless families and took the steps to “change their lives”.