The government has targeted to rehabilitate 57,000 more landless and homeless families at the cost of Taka 515 crore by 2016, especially the people victimised by the natural disasters including cyclone, river erosion and flood.
“The Ashrayan project under the Prime Minister’s Office is working to alleviate the poverty of the landless and homeless families of the country by focusing on human resource development,” M Zahirul Haque, Project Director of Ashrayan-2 Project to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) told BSS on Saturday.
He said the project is working directly on the civil and human rights of the target population and intervening in order to improve their living conditions, education, health and earning opportunities.
The Ashrayan campaign already rehabilitated 1,32,000 landless and homeless families and provided training to many family members for making them income generating, Haque said.
The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also distributed 55 acres of agricultural land among 1.20 lakh landless families, according to a PMO official.
He said the government is distributing title deeds of ownership of the land, providing training to ultra poor people, giving interest-free loans and giving electricity connection.
According to project details, the aims of the project is creating dynamic village and stimulating socio-economic development of the people as a part of a poverty alleviation campaign raising their homes and providing them with other civic facilities including interest-free loans.
The project is to improve the standard of living ensuring basic education, health care and skill development on income generating activities of the landless, homeless, distressed and rootless people.
Earlier, the government has also extended the tenure of Ashrayan-2 Project till June 30, 2017, and enhanced its cost to Taka 2,204 crore, with a view to alleviating poverty by providing residential facilities and creating employment for the landless and the marginalized people, the project details said.
It said the rehabilitation campaign called Ashrayan, a homegrown programme initiated during the previous 1996-2001 tenure of the Awami League government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, rehabilitated more than one lakh families until 2010 and of them over 50,000 were rehabilitated by 2002 at a cost of Taka 300 crore.
In 2015 the Ashrayan project rehabilitated some 7,000 ultra poor homeless families. At least two members of the target families would also be provided with 14 days training on different trades and one of them would be given one time loan of Taka 10,000 for launching their income generation activities.
The project under the PMO is leading the 12 implementing agencies of the project including the Armed Forces Division, the LGED, the Cooperatives Department, the Youth Development Department, Public Works Department, REB, district and upazila administration, Social Welfare Department, Relief and Rehabilitation Department, Forest Department, PDB and union parishad are the coordinating agencies.
