Home ›› 21 May 2023 ›› Nation
Realising the sufferings of the homeless marginal and ultra-poor people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, after coming to power in 1996, envisioned the Ashrayan project for the rehabilitation of the millions.
“In all shabby weather particularly during monsoon and winter, we had to face unbound sufferings, as I virtually lived under the open sky,” according to Monira Begum, one of the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Ashrayan Project.
Now, smiles glowed on Monira’s face after receiving her dream home in Lakshmipur district, about 190 km from the capital Dhaka.
Like Monira, a small piece of land and home on it has made thousands of shelter-less people happy as they got it as a ‘gift’, free of cost from the Prime Minister.
“Ashrayan project has changed the lifestyle of my family, as the home provided me with the source of livelihood and created some other facilities as well like water supply, hygiene and sanitation,” according to Monira.
In rural Bangladesh, thousands of people, since the country’s independence, used to live floating from one place to another to sustain their lives. They had no permanent address.
“After 50 years of independence we have got our permanent address at Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s noble gesture,” Monira observed.
The Ashrayan project- home for the homeless- is seen as a “Sheikh Hasina Model” for inclusive development. So far, around 10 lakh families received such homes across the country, giving shelter to more than 3.5 million people.
According to the officials, in the first phase of their project, a total of 63,999 houses were distributed among the poor while 53,330 houses were given in the second phase and 59,133 houses in the third phase.
With the success of the Ashrayan Project-1, the government initiated the Ashrayan Project-2. And under the project, a total of 39365 houses have so far been allocated among the poor, bringing their total number of houses to 2,15,827.
In 1972 after independence, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman initiated the programme for housing the poor. But, after his brutal murder in 1975, the rulers kept the programme in abeyance, leading to an increase in the number of homeless people due to river erosion and other natural disasters.
So, the Ashrayan Project, envisaged by Sheikh Hasina was just a reinforcement of the footprint of Bangabandhu for the welfare of the toiling messes.
Under the Ashrayan projects, the government has rehabilitated 5,54,597 families and out of them, 2,16,704 families were rehabilitated in different programmes under various ministries.
By contributing the shelter to ultra-poor, the Prime Minister has boosted the confidence of the downtrodden people to live with their basic rights of shelter, alleviate their poverty and live in a society with dignity.
Of course, after getting their homes, the beneficiaries would express their gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for making their dream true and lives meaningful. Under their project, their prime minister handed over the deeds of the two-decimal land and keys of the two-room home with a separate kitchen and veranda to the beneficiaries.
The Ashrayan project is a life-changing initiative of the government for the welfare of the country’s poor who can now dream of a new life.
Amena Begum, a 49-year-old in the district narrated her long-suffering with sick and physically challenged children.
Amena used to work as a maidservant from house to house, keeping her children unsafe in a makeshift slum. Now, she has a shelter in the Ashrayan project.
