UNB, Dhaka :Speakers at a seminar here on Monday said the number of urban poor will jump to 80 lakh by 2025 from the existing 27 lakh if proper steps are not taken to cut poverty.They stressed the need for coordinated efforts of the government, city corporations and non-governmental organisations to eradicate extreme urban poverty.They also said the government should come up with effective programmes to make urban slum dwellers who are mainly the extreme poor skilled and semiskilled ones so that they can come out of the vicious circle of extreme poverty through engaging in jobs.Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (EEP) and Unnayan Shamannay jointly arranged the programme at the city’s Biam auditorium. Speaking at the programme as the chief guest, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayor Annisul Huq said, he feels as a mayor that reducing the extreme poverty and improving the living standard of slum people are the major challenges.”I’ve solution to transportation problem, waste management problem, removing truck stands and illegal billboards and environment pollution. But I become confused to find ways to deal with slumproblem and clearing the footpaths from illegal occupation,” he said.Visiting different city slums, Annisul said, he saw people leading a very inhuman life. “We’re thinking whether to take any initiative within the jurisdiction of the city corporation to reduce the city’s extreme poverty.”The DNCC mayor said they can take two to three target-base feasible projects to cut extreme poverty. “If any origination comes up with such proposal we’ll consider it.”He also said, they are also trying to ease the water and sanitation problems of the slum dwellers.Speaking on the occasion, Nazmul Haque Prodhan, MP said poor people are migrating to cities for better civic amenities and job opportunities there which contributing to growth of slum and urban extreme poverty.He said a coordinated policy is necessary so that extreme poverty can be reduced significantly without evicting slums.Presenting the keynote paper at the seminar, Taibur Rahman of Unnayan Shamannay said rural to urban migration is the predominated cause of urban extreme poverty. “Increasing the number of urban extreme poor is creating pressure on cities and making city management more difficult.”He thinks slum eviction is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the way of eradicating urban extreme poverty. “A slum household well on the way of graduating out of extreme poverty may find itself thrown back due to the eviction.”Taibur said, among the urban extreme poor children, women elderly people and people with disabilities are even more vulnerable. He said around eight lakh kids are working as child labour in urban areas as their extreme poor parents are forced to send them to work fro their livelihood.Taibur suggested bringing the extreme poor under the coverage of social safety-net programmes and micro-credit financing as those programmes are now mostly concentrated in rural areas.
