Implementation of the government's ongoing Ashrayan project is facing difficulties due to non-availability of required khas lands for it, sources said.
The project may miss the completion deadline due to failure to arrange required lands within the areas, they said.
The government in 1997 undertook the project titled Ashrayan aiming to rehabilitate landless, homeless, jobless and victims of river erosion on khas lands in different places across the country.
The government settled 47,210 such families for the period of 1997-2002 through the Ashrayan project at a cost of Tk 3.0 billion, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) data showed.
In second stage, some 58,703 families had been settled for the period of 2002-2010 by the Ashrayan (phase-2) at a cost of Tk 6.08 billion. Â
Some 50,000 families were supposed to be settled for the tenure of 2010-2017 under the Ashrayan-2 project at a cost of Tk 22.04 billion.
Meanwhile, only 50 per cent landless and homeless families have been rehabilitated under the Ashrayan-2 project during four and a half years from 2010, an official concerned said.
About 50 per cent of the target (over 25,000 families) had already been residing at the settlements of the Ashrayan-2 project as of October last, he said. Â
Thus, around 132,000 families have so far been rehabilitated across the country since the project's inception.
According to officials, some 55 multistoried buildings will be built up in different places all over the country under the Ashrayan-2 project. Two of the 55 multistoried buildings are waiting for inauguration. Â
"Presently, there are no adequate khas lands in the country; as a result, we could not arrange sufficient lands in the project areas," a high official said, expressing his dismay.
"Thanks to our vigorous efforts, we are making progress in implementing the major segment of our current project, but illegal encroachers often impede our improvement by filing false cases claiming ownership of the lands," he added.
"The Ashrayan-2 project is working to alleviate poverty of the landless and homeless families of the country by focusing on human resource development," Deputy Project Director of Ashrayan-2 and Deputy Secretary of the PMO Md Nurun Nabi told the FE.
Under the project-2, some Tk 20,000 is provided to a family in the form of loan at Tk 5.50 service charges for income generating activities, he said.
The PMO executes the project with the assistance of Armed Forces Division (AFD), different government agencies and departments and district and upazila administration.
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Land scarcity impeding Ashrayan execution
Rezaul Karim | Published: December 08, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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