Slum population in Khulna burgeoning
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Our Correspondent
KHULNA, June 23: More than 80,000 people are living in 120 slums in the Khulna city Corporation area and it constitutes around 18 percent of the total number of citizens, according to a survey of the KDA master plan. Of the slums, 66 are squatter slums, mainly on the land of railway department and 106 are on private land. The closure of mills and factories one after another in Khulna district within a short span of time has created an adverse impact on the economic and social life in the region. Consequent upon the closure of the mills and factories thousands of workers and employees who lived in slum areas of the city have been rendered jobless with their families facing a bleak future with no light at the end of the tunnel. A Khulna Development Authority (KDA) source said 40 percent of the slum dwellers are educated, 30 percent uneducated, 24% literate. 3 % had primary education and the rest 3% secondary education. The slums are in Khalishpur, Shonadanga and Daulatpur. Of the .8 millions people, 40% live in Khalishpur 19% in Daulatpur area 17% in Shonadanga area and 24% in Khulna area. Forty two percent of the city slum dwellers are married and most of them are or below 20 years of age. The slum dwellers have a varied range of professions. 3% work in the government offices, 20% run businesses 24 % are rickshaw-pullers, 13% work in mills and factories, 30% are day-labourers and the remaining people are engaged in various other kinds of jobs. The lower income group people living in the slums suffer, according to an estimate, from various types of diseases like diarrhoea, cough, influenza, measles, pox, pneumonia and other types of stomach diseases and they take treatments from different healthcare centres. Fifty percent of the slum people go to hospitals or clinics for treatment, five percent resort to homeopathy, 20% of them go to quacks and 17 % use herbal treatments, with the rest taking other sorts of treatment. 40% of the slums couples have adopt family planning and the rest 60% live without it. The report says that slum dwellers are mostly outsiders. About 30% of the slum people are residents of Barisal; about 15% of Faridpur and 12% are of Khulna. The remaining slum dwellers are from Jhalokati, Madaripur, Satkhira, Noakhali and other districts. People from different districts are still coming to the Khulna city in quest for a better life. According to a city corporation estimate, about 1.5 million are now living in the metropolitan area. The KDA master plan report pointed out that the condition of the Khulna city slums are better than those of Dhaka and Chittagong.
KHULNA, June 23: More than 80,000 people are living in 120 slums in the Khulna city Corporation area and it constitutes around 18 percent of the total number of citizens, according to a survey of the KDA master plan. Of the slums, 66 are squatter slums, mainly on the land of railway department and 106 are on private land. The closure of mills and factories one after another in Khulna district within a short span of time has created an adverse impact on the economic and social life in the region. Consequent upon the closure of the mills and factories thousands of workers and employees who lived in slum areas of the city have been rendered jobless with their families facing a bleak future with no light at the end of the tunnel. A Khulna Development Authority (KDA) source said 40 percent of the slum dwellers are educated, 30 percent uneducated, 24% literate. 3 % had primary education and the rest 3% secondary education. The slums are in Khalishpur, Shonadanga and Daulatpur. Of the .8 millions people, 40% live in Khalishpur 19% in Daulatpur area 17% in Shonadanga area and 24% in Khulna area. Forty two percent of the city slum dwellers are married and most of them are or below 20 years of age. The slum dwellers have a varied range of professions. 3% work in the government offices, 20% run businesses 24 % are rickshaw-pullers, 13% work in mills and factories, 30% are day-labourers and the remaining people are engaged in various other kinds of jobs. The lower income group people living in the slums suffer, according to an estimate, from various types of diseases like diarrhoea, cough, influenza, measles, pox, pneumonia and other types of stomach diseases and they take treatments from different healthcare centres. Fifty percent of the slum people go to hospitals or clinics for treatment, five percent resort to homeopathy, 20% of them go to quacks and 17 % use herbal treatments, with the rest taking other sorts of treatment. 40% of the slums couples have adopt family planning and the rest 60% live without it. The report says that slum dwellers are mostly outsiders. About 30% of the slum people are residents of Barisal; about 15% of Faridpur and 12% are of Khulna. The remaining slum dwellers are from Jhalokati, Madaripur, Satkhira, Noakhali and other districts. People from different districts are still coming to the Khulna city in quest for a better life. According to a city corporation estimate, about 1.5 million are now living in the metropolitan area. The KDA master plan report pointed out that the condition of the Khulna city slums are better than those of Dhaka and Chittagong.