Mobarak Miah, a native of Rangpur district, cannot stop smiling.
He cannot stop thanking the prime minister of the country either.
The reason? He is going to be a homeowner on Saturday.
“I have a hut to live in with my wife,” 67-year-old Mobarak, who comes from one of the districts up north that suffer the harshest bite of winter every year, told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday. “It is difficult living in it, especially during the cold season.
Mobarak and his wife have children, but they live separately and don’t provide any support, which is why all the elderly couple have been able to afford till now is a rickety hut.
“But now I will have a pucca [permanent] house, which will shelter us from the sun, rain, and cold, because of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” he said, elated and excited.
Mobarak is one of around 250,000 homeless and landless people who will be given permanent houses - a place of their own - on Saturday, under an initiative that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken to realize the dream of her father, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to provide a home to every citizen of Bangladesh.
Saturday’s handover of houses is under Ashrayan 2 project, a part of the prime minister’s initiative to house and rehabilitate as many as 900,000 homeless people in the country.
It is the largest government housing project in the world so far, and certainly one of the most remarkable development projects implemented during the three consecutive terms of Sheikh Hasina.
Under Ashrayan 2, 66,189 houses are being prepared to be handed over to homeless and landless families. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will officially hand the ownership of the houses over to the recipients at 10:30am on Saturday, via video conference.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina looks at the model of the houses built under the Ashrayan project for homeless people on Friday, January 22, 2021| Prime Minister’s Office
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Till now, the government initiative has identified 885,622 homeless families, and work is in progress to rehabilitate them in the near future.
Over the last few days, this reporter has visited more than four project sites under the housing initiative, in Naryanganj, Rangpur, Kurigram and Nilphamari.
This particular project is bringing happiness to thousands of people who have never owned a home in their life.
Goleja Begum, a resident of Balapur village in Rangpur who is one of the 250,000 recipients on Saturday, said she never, even in her dreams, thought she would own a house one day.
“I was born and raised in my parents’ house that was built on land my family did not own. The plot was owned by a local landlord,” she told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday.
“My husband, who died around 20 years ago, also failed to leave me a home of my own. Now, at this stage of life, I am going to have my own house.
“I don't know how to thank Sheikh Hasina ... she is not only the leader of the country, but also the guardian of all homeless people. I wish her a long life,” the 70-year-old said, eyes tearing up.
What are the houses like?
Each of the 66,189 homes is a two-room house with a kitchen, toilet and balcony. The houses are costing the government Tk1.75 lakh each for construction under the project, said Ashrayan 2 Project Director Md Mahbub Hossain.
Houses under the Ashrayan 2 project in Rupganj, Narayanganj on Thursday, January 21, 2021 | Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune
“A four-member family can easily live in this house. We have designed the project like that,” he added.
However, this project is not only giving homeless people a home, but also an environment to breathe and live with joy.
On the bank of Shitalakkhya River, “Mujib Year village” has been built with 20 houses for 20 families.
Every house comes with a small garden. In addition, they are equipped with arsenic-free drinking water supply system.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune on Thursday, Taslima Begum, UNO of Gangachara upazila in Rangpur, said in Nauhali union, they built 15 houses for homeless Hindu people only.
“The residents in that area [in Nauhali] are mostly Hindus, so we have made this village [the cluster of Ashrayan houses] especially for them [homeless Hindu people], so they can live with a community of their own,” Taslima said.
Residents of former exclaves get their own houses as well
People who were residents of the now-dissolved exclave in Kurigram’s Dashiarchara are also getting homes of their own under the Ashrayan 2 project.
Five families in Dashiarchhara, which now known as New Bangladesh, are getting homes from the 25 houses under the project there, said Phulbari Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tauhidur Rahman.
“At first, Sheikh Hasina gave us national identity. Now she has given us homes too,” said Mohammed Akhter Ali, resident of Kalirhat village in Dashiarchhara.
Speaking to this correspondent on Friday afternoon, Kurigram Deputy Commissioner Rezaul Karim said all former exclave residents would gradually be brought under the Ashrayan project.
Houses have been built under the Ashrayan project in Dashiarchhara, which was once an Indian enclave before it was integrated into Bangladesh territory in 2015 after a historic land agreement with India, in Phulbari, Kurigram. The photo was taken on Friday, January 22, 2021 | Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune
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The largest government housing project in the world
“This type of house handover program to almost 70,000 families is a first of its kind in the world,” Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus has said.
“The government has built 66,189 houses at a cost of Tk1,168 crore for the homeless people, on the occasion of Mujib Borsho [Mujib Year, observed to mark the birth centenary of Bangabandhu]. Some 100,000 more houses will be distributed among more people who need them in the next month,” Dr Kaikaus was quoted by BSS as saying.
Ashrayan project, under the Prime Minister’s Office, has rehabilitated 3,715 families by constructing 743 barracks under 44 project villages in 21 districts during Mujib Year, he said.
The principal secretary said the Ashrayan project had prepared a list of 885,622 families in 2020, of which 293,361 are landless and homeless families, and 592,261 families have 1-10 decimal land but no housing facilities of their own.
Dr Kaikaus said Ashrayan has rehabilitated 320,058 landless and homeless families between 1997 and 2020. “The Armed Forces Division is constructing barracks for landless and homeless families.”
He also said the Ashrayan 2 project [July 2010-June 2022] has a target to rehabilitate landless, homeless and displaced families at a cost of Tk4,840.28 crore.
Ashrayan has already rehabilitated 192,277 landless and homeless families across the country from July 2010 to June 2019.
A total of 48,500 landless and homeless families have been rehabilitated in barracks while 143,777 families, who have their own land (1-10 decimal) but no capacity to construct houses, are rehabilitated in semi-barracks, corrugated iron sheet barracks and specially designed houses.
He said the government also constructed 20 five-storey buildings at Khurushkul in Cox’s Bazar for 600 families who are climate refugees as a special gift from the prime minister, adding: “The Armed Forces Division is also developing 119 more multi-storey buildings and related activities through Detailed Project Proposal (DPP).”
Prime Minister’s Office Secretary Md Tafazzal Hossain Miah said members of the rehabilitated families are getting training on increasing awareness about various issues, cultivating expertise and human resource development to engage them in income-generating work.
He said the activities of the project would be accelerated further in future to alleviate poverty for fulfilling the Awami League government’s Vision 2021 and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
