By Kalim Sarwar

CHATTOGRAM, June 30, 2022 (BSS) – The Ashrayan project of the government is not only giving shelters to the poor and marginalised people but it paves a way for them to lead a dignified life forgetting their plights and negligence they suffered in the past.

That is why every house constructed under the project is not just providing shelter for them rather it becomes a symbol of their social dignity.

A huge number of marginal people in Chattogram district have got a new life with the help of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Ten Initiatives priority programme - Ashrayan project.

During a field visit to an Ashrayan project in Satkania upazila, this correspondent found that many widows, divorcees and disabled women and poor and destitute people got homes under the Ashrayan project. After getting homes and land, they get new hope to survive leaving their floating life behind.

Monowara Begum, a resident of Chhadaha Ashrayan Project in Satkania, said she used to stay at her father's house as she did not have her own home.

“Along with my husband and two daughters, once I lived in a hut.

 But I got a house under the Ashrayan project and have started a grocery shop here now,” she said.

Monowara said she is earning a good income by selling various items, including jewellery items, saris, lungi, towels, betel leaves, chips and children's toys.
 
“I could not sleep many nights . . . as rain water poured into our home. When the storm started, it seemed as if the house would be blown away any time,” she said.
“Now we can sleep without any hesitation . . . I am praying to Allah that Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina may live long,” he added.

Noor Banu Begum, another beneficiary of the project, said: “A few years after our marriage, my husband died. With great difficulty, I was living in a hut with my children for many years”.

She said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given her a house and land under the project.

“My confidence has increased as I have no worries about our accommodation now.

 I collect firewood from the nearby hills and work on other people’s land. Besides, I am earning money by tailoring. I am leading a better now than before,” Noor Banu added.

Like Monowara and Noor Banu, Zafar Alam and Badiul Alam of Garangia area of Sonakania union also got houses in Satkania under the project.

Satkania Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Fatema-Tuj-Johra said 40 homeless families have been allotted houses at Chhadahar Sarhashia and Madarsha mouzas in Satkania under the first and second phases of Ashrayan Project-2.

“Meanwhile, all the beneficiaries of the project, who got homes here, received their houses and land deeds.

 In the third phase, construction of 48 more houses has been completed,” she added.

Abu Nayeem Mohammad Selim, chairman of Madarsha Union Parishad, said those who got houses here were once homeless.

“They lived their lives in uncertainty as they did not have their own houses. Now they have become confident as their social dignity has increased,” he said.

According to the sources at Chattogram Divisional Office, 36,715 homeless families were rehabilitated in 11 districts of the division under the first, second and third phases of the Ashrayan.

Of those, 4,711 were in Chattogram district, while 2,679 families in Cox’s Bazar and 3,054 in Cumilla, 5,830 families in Brahmanbaria, 1,106 in Chandpur, 6,001 in Noakhali, 1,384 in Feni, 3,226 in Laxmipur, 1,451 in Rangamati, 4,242 in Khagrachhari and 2,912 in Bandarban district.

Some 4,409 poor families, who were displaced from the coastal areas of Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar due to the adverse impacts of climate change, are being rehabilitated under the Khurushkul Ashrayan Project in Cox’s Bazar.