70 more Upazilas freed of homelessness and landlessness, says PM Hasina

The premier also pledges to rebuild the houses destroyed by Cyclone Remal

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced that 70 more Upazilas in 23 districts are free of homelessness and landlessness, taking the total count to 58 districts and 464 Upazilas.

The premier made the announcement after joining a video conference connecting Lalmonirhat, Bhola and Cox’s Bazar from her official residence Gonobhaban around 11:30am on Tuesday.

She presented houses in 11 Upazilas in three districts to the homeless while making the announcement.

More than 1.3 million homeless people have received houses in the previous four phases of the special Ashrayan Project, launched to commemorate Mujib Year. The number of houses provided to the poor was 266,012.

The prime minister’s press wing said Lalmonirhat's Kaliganj Upazila, Cox’s Bazar’s Eidgaon Upazila and Bhola’s Char Fashion Upazila were virtually connected to the Gonobhaban for the house distribution ceremony.

More than 4.3 million landless and houseless people have been rehabilitated under the government’s Ashrayan Project and other programmes so far. Over 2.9 million of them were rehabilitated under the Ashrayan Project alone.

Around 6,945 acres of land, worth Tk 38.83 billion, have been renovated across the country to build the houses.

In addition, around 371.10 acres of land, worth Tk 2.55 billion, have been purchased for the Ashrayan Project. As many as 15,545 people have been rehoused on this land.

The prime minister also vowed to rebuild and repair the houses damaged by Cyclone Remal.

“We will rebuild the houses that were destroyed. We will provide construction materials for partially damaged houses.”

“The cyclone and high tide occurred several days ago. Thousands of people are affected. We have already made a list of houses damaged in various areas. We will send aid accordingly.”