Water stagnation makes project residents homeless

Residents of the newly constructed houses of Government Ashrayan project in Kaneltari area under Haragach municipality of Kaunia upazila have become the worst sufferers due to the water stagnation.

Local sources said many of them have taken shelter in other places. Locals allege that the houses have been built in low lying flood prone areas and there is an absence of any drainage system in the project site area.

According to the Project officials, Maya group – a Haragach-based a business body – had donated 0.56 acres of land to the government’s Ashrayan project in Kaneltari area of the upazila on February 15 this year.

The government rehabilitated some 22 landless families, giving each of them 2 decimals of lands and a concrete house.

Many of the locals however said the land of the project site was very low that needed to be filled with earth properly before building the houses for the vulnerable people. There is no proper drainage system to flush out the water, causing the area to be waterlogged even after a slight rainfall.

A recent visit to the site area found that seven houses of the twenty-two have gone under three feet deep water due to rainfall. The people left the houses and took shelter in different places.

The remaining houses are in a vulnerable state of being submerged if there is any heavy rainfall.

A beneficiary of the Ashrayan Project, Anisur Rhaman said the houses get water stagnation even in slight rainfall. Roads inside the site area, kitchen, tube-wells and bathrooms of the houses went under water.

Lack of proper drainage system has created the water stagnation. He also sought support and cooperation from local government representatives, upazila and district administration to solve the crisis.

Sultana Parvin, another homeless and landless woman, said, she felt extreme joy and happiness in her life receiving the government house. She expressed her thanks and gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for providing her family with a permanent shelter.

The disaster resilient houses made for the landless people went under water as it was built on the low lands. So, they are compelled to leave the houses and take shelter at others houses, she added

Councilor of Haragach Municipality Nuruful Islam Sora said cannels for the drainage system beside the site area have been illegally occupied by a section of people.

So the houses and the site area of the project get water stagnation amid rainfall.

The municipality is working out to improve the situation.

When asked, Kaunia UNO Tahmina Tarin said absence of a proper drainage system has caused the water stagnation in the site.

“The municipal authority has been requested several times to build a drainage system and wash the garbage in the existing ones to flash out the stagnant water from the site area,” she added.

Rangpur Met Office Officer AKM Kamrul Islam said some 1,733 mm rainfall was recorded in Rangpur district during the season till August 31.

The Ashrayan project is a brainchild of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It is a development project of the Government of Bangladesh under Prime Minister’s Office tasked with building homes for homeless and displaced people and to improve their socio-economic conditions for sustainable development.

The government is constructing the houses with stronger great beams, rafters and Reinforced Concrete Column (RCC) pillars at the cost of Tk 2, 59,500 to make the houses more sustainable.