Special Correspondent :
Twenty-four new ministers have applied for houses in the ministers’ residential area in the capital to resolve their accommodation crisis.
Of them, 11 are ministers, 12 are state ministers and one is deputy minister.
They sought the allocation from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works after they have been inducted in the Prime Minister’s Sheikh Hasina’s new cabinet, sources said.
A total of 46 ministers took oath on January 7 following ruling Awami League’s massive victory in the December 30 general election.
Informed sources in the Ministry of Ministry of Housing and Public Works said that houses and flats would be allocated for the new ministers by February. The previous cabinet ministers are supposed to vacate their allocated government houses by this month.
Among the ex-cabinet minister, only former Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya vacated his house at the ministers’ residential area.
The former cabinet ministers are yet to quit their government houses and even one of them has reportedly filed application for overstaying.
There are around 70 houses and flats in the capital’s Minto Road, Hare Road and Bailey Road area, known collectively as ministers’ residential area.
Apart from ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers, advisors to the prime minister and opposition leaders, top bureaucrats and police personnel also live in the area.
The new cabinet ministers, who sought allocation for the government houses, are Md Abdur Razzak (Agriculture), Mohammad Hasan Mahmud (Information), Dipu Moni (Education), Golam Dastagir Gazi (Textiles and Jute), Sadhan Chandra Majumder (Food), Tipu Munshi (Commerce), SM Rezaul Karim (Housing and Public Works), Md Nurul Islam Sujan (Railways) and Mustafa Jabbar (Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology), Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun (Industries) and Md Shahab Uddin (Environment, Forest and Climate Change).
The new state ministers, who applied for housing facilities, are Zunaid Ahmed Palak (Information and Communication Technology Division), Imran Ahmad (Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment), Begum Monnuzan Sufian (Labour and Employment), Farhad Hossain (Public Administration), Shwapan Bhattacharjee (LGRD and Cooperatives), Jahid Faruk (Water Resources), Md Murad Hasan (Health and Family Welfare), Dr Md Enamur Rahaman (Disaster Management and Relief), Md Mahbub Ali (Civil Aviation and Tourism) and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (Religious Affairs – Technocrat).
Deputy minister AKM Enamul Haque Shamim (Water Resources) also applied for flat allocation at the ministers’ residential area.
