By Dr Aynal Haque

RAJSHAHI, March 6, 2022 (BSS) - Some 6,153 more homeless families are going
to get houses as a gift by the generosity of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in
all eight districts in Rajshahi division.

Construction works of the houses are going on everywhere in the division to
handover those to the beneficiaries under the third consecutive phase in
order to improve the standard of living, ensure basic education, health care
and skill development on income generating activities of the poor people.

A total of 14,291 newly constructed houses were handed over to homeless and
landless families in two earlier phases last year as a gift from Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Mujib Year.

Additional Commissioner of Rajshahi division Moinul Islam said each of the
semi-pucca houses with two bedrooms, one kitchen, one toilet, common space
and veranda are built at a cost of Tk 1.91 lakh.

The floors and walls of the houses are brick-built as the roofs were made of
corrugated sheet, he said, adding that the houses were made colorfully and
eye-catching. The disaster resistant houses reveal the images of laudable and
lasting development activities of the government, he continued.

At the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the government has
provided them with the houses to alleviate their poverty through giving
shelters and human resource development activities.
 

On behalf of Ashrayan Project-2 of the Prime Minister's Office, the
Department of Disaster Management (DDM) has built the houses, Islam added.
 
Deputy Commissioner Abdul Jalil said the construction of the houses is a
laudable step of the government.
 

As per commitment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, all the distressed
families will be brought under the disaster resilient housing facility in the
division, in phases.
 
Commissioner of Rajshahi division GSM Zafarullah told BSS that the
government's line departments, including agriculture, fisheries, livestock,
youth development, cooperatives, women affairs and social development, have
started expanding their activities to the Ashrayan villages to improve the
living and livelihood conditions of the settlers.

Abdul Mazid, Joint Registrar of the Department of Cooperative, said loans of
around Taka 23.59 crore were disbursed among the members of 195 cooperative
societies in 200 Ashrayan Projects in the division.

Adury Begum, one of the beneficiaries of Jhalpukur Ashrayan Project in
Mohanpur Upazila, said she used to live in a thatched house before getting
the new one.

 
She along with her daughter, who is studying in a nursing college, has been
living in the semi-concrete house for the last couple of months comfortably
at present.
 

The house comprises a bedroom, kitchen room with veranda, toilet and also
connected to power.
 

"It's like a dream to me," Adury said, while sharing views of her happy life
with a high-level visiting team at the Jhalopara Ashrayan Project in Mohanpur
Upazila yesterday.
 

She told the team members that she had to suffer a lot due to lack of a
house. But, the worst situation has changed now. She along with her husband
and two daughters are having happy days in the house.

"I never thought that I would be an owner of a brick-built house," she said
with a smiling face, adding that the house gave her three-member family a new
life expressing deep gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her
benevolent initiative.

Kolpona Kisku, a widow of Dewpur village under Paba upazila, is living in the
new house at Kasiadanga Ashrayan Project with her two sons Bishwajit and
Durjoy. Bishwajit is now a third year student in Rajshahi University.

In Paba and Mohanpur Upazilas in the district, 116 houses were built, while
construction works of 79 others are progressing.