Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced that 52 upazilas, including all in the Panchagar and Magura districts, are free of homelessness and landlessness.
The prime minister made the statement during a ceremony where houses and land were handed over to 26,229 families from five upazilas on Thursday as part of the government’s programme to mark the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“I’m announcing that 52 upazilas, including all of the Panchagar and Magura districts, no longer have any homeless or landless people,” she said.
The prime minister joined the ceremony via video conference from the Ganabhaban. Families who received houses in Lakshmipur’s Ramgoti, Bagerhat’s Rampal, Mymensingh’s Nandail, Panchagar’s Sadar and Magura’s Mohammadpur and local officials also joined the video conference, reports bdnews24.com.
Homeless people across the country have received more than 18.5 million houses in three phases of the Ashrayan Project, said Ahmed Kaikaus, principal secretary to the prime minister. As many as 26,229 families received homes on Thursday, he said, adding the government is building another 8,667 houses.
The government has allocated more than Tk 40.28 billion to the building project so far. A total of 117,329 single-roomed houses were built in the first and second phases of the project.
The government aims to allocate 67,800 houses to homeless people in the third phase of the project. At least 32,908 of those houses were handed over to people on Apr 26. The government is also building houses with special designs suitable for the shoal areas.