Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday kicked off her government’s ambitious Ashrayan-2 project that aims at eliminating homelessness from Bangladesh.

Hasina virtually distributed pucca houses to some 66,189 landless and homeless families under the project as a gift from her government in Mujib Year, marking the birth centenary of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Apart from the pucca houses, the poor families got ownership papers of two decimal land parcels from the prime minister, who launched the project virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban. All the houses have been constructed on Khas land.

The government has constructed 66,189 houses at a total cost of Tk 1,168 crore. Each unit has two rooms, a kitchen, a toilet and a veranda, constructed at a cost of Tk 1.75 lakh.

Another 100,000 houses will be distributed among the poor next month.

Besides the Ashrayan project, the PMO will rehabilitate 3,715 homeless families in 743 barracks in 44 villages across 36 upazilas of 21 districts during the Mujib Borsho.

The PMO prepared a list of 885,622 families in 2020, of which 293,361 are landless and homeless, while 592,261 have just 1-10 decimal land parcels but no housing facility.

The Ashrayan project rehabilitated some 320,058 landless and homeless families between 1997 and December 2020.

On the other hand, the Ashrayan-2 project (July 2010-June 2022) aims to rehabilitate 250,000 more landless, homeless and displaced families, at a cost Tk 4,840.28 crore. It has so far rehabilitated 192,277 poor families across the country.

A total of 48,500 landless and homeless families have been rehabilitated in barracks while 143,777 having own land (1-10 decimals but unable to construct houses) in semi-barracks, corrugated iron-sheet barracks and specially designed houses.

The government is arranging accommodation for the homeless and also the landless families under Ashrayan-2 project, a housing project run by the PMO.

The government has enlisted 293,361 homeless and also landless families as well as 592,261 homeless families throughout the country.