By all means home for the homeless is an ambitious project of the government but its very intention was being distorted by a section of the ruling party’s local dishonest and greedy leaders and public representatives. There are allegations of taking money from the recipients of these semi-pucca houses. On top, many of the extreme poor were not allocated the houses under the project, though they truly deserve.
Mentionable that the government, on the occasion of Mujib’s centenary, has taken the Ashrayan-2 that aims at eliminating the homelessness in Bangladesh. As part of the project, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday kicked off her government’s this project. Sure enough, this is a highly appreciable initiative to rehabilitate homeless and landless people.
But there are common allegations of using low-quality bricks, cement and sand while constructing the houses. A news report in a national daily on Tuesday said that in the first phase under this project, a total of 70,000 houses were handed over among the landless and homeless poor in different areas of Rangaboli upazila in Patuakhali district and Sherpur upazila of Bogura district respectively. Meanwhile, many houses have been reportedly developed cracks. There are also allegations of taking money amounting to Tk 30,000-35,000 from different beneficiaries by the local leaders and public representatives. But the government had sanctioned Tk 1.71 lakh for construction of each of the houses at the project.
As reported, the government has enlisted 293,361 homeless and landless families as well as 592,261 homeless families throughout the country to provide them with these houses. It has set a target in ‘Mujib Barsha’ that not a single person will remain without home.
The problem, however, is the misuse of facilities and misappropriation of funds at different stages of fund allocation, besides taking money from the recipients. A recent investigation by a news organization has revealed corruption in a similar housing project for the poor in Sarishabari of Jamalpur. It exposes how well-to-do families, some of whom are relatives of the local elected representatives, have been allocated the houses at the expense of the deserving. In a number of cases, abuse of power by local representatives was reported there.
It is high time that the government should brought transparency and accountability to every sphere of national life, instead of turning a blind eye. It should also enforce exemplarily punish those who try to in-cash out of any illegal business.
