It is quite the achievement that the Bangladeshi government has managed the extraordinary feat of making two of its districts free of homelessness.
Under the government’s Ashrayan project, 26,229 houses have been distributed among the landless families of Panchagarh and Magura. There are few things as necessary for the average Bangladeshi as a roof to stay under, and with the country soon graduating from its LDC status, the government will have to double down on its effort to solve the issue of homelessness.
Fortunately, this recent milestone in the government’s Ashrayan project shows that we are addressing this issue with the seriousness of warrants and are well on our way to solving this problem.
As per data collected in 2019, there are as many as 5 million people in Bangladesh who do not have a house to reside in. When one looks at the cities, the statistics barely succeed in painting a full picture as the cities are full of people living on the footpaths and the unhygienic conditions in the slums.
While the government has a list of close to a million people that they want to hand over semi-pucca buildings to under its Ashrayan project, that still leaves about 4 million people with no roof over their heads, with a majority of them living in the cities. Thankfully, the recent milestones in the Ashrayan project have testified to the government’s ability to meet the excruciating demands of such an ambitious project. We just need to bring in the rest of the populace under this scheme to truly eradicate homelessness from the nation.
The measure of success for a society can be attributed to how well it takes care of its citizens. To reiterate, we are well on our way to graduating from our LDC status. It’s time such a monetary leap is reflected in each scion of society.
