PM’s house for poor: 7 families face homelessness after houses damaged
At least seven families are staring at homelessness again in Bogura's Sadar Upazila after their houses which were gifted by the prime minister developed cracks and were damaged.
A total of 55 landless families in Nungola Union under the Sadar Upazila, got houses at the Dashtika area early this year but many of their houses have already been damaged.
The upazila administration has started rebuilding the seven houses that were recently damaged. Other than these, large cracks were found in around 10 to 12 houses, according to the beneficiaries.
Shirin Akhter (38), a beneficiary said, "Six months ago I and my sister Sahida Begum got two houses but the walls on my sister's house collapsed two months ago when the rainy season started. My sister then lived on the balcony of her house for a month. But due to continuous rain, she left the house and went to Bogura town a month ago. She is now working as a house-help and living in someone else's house."
Another beneficiary wishing to remain anonymous said, "I was fine for two months after getting the house, but after the rains increased, the houses started cracking. The walls of some houses are crumbling down. We are spending our days in fear and panic here.
"I used to rent someone else's house. After getting this house, it seemed that we don't need to pay house rent for the rest of our lives but our dream is fading away. My husband is a rickshaw puller. Due to the ongoing lockdown, there is not enough income to run the family. If we rent a house again, how can we pay the money?"
When contacted, Upazila Project Implementation Officer Md Moniruzzaman said, "Each house had cost Tk 1.71 lakh to build. These 55 houses were built under the Ashrayan Project 2 gifted by the prime minister on the occasion of Mujib Borsho.
Bogura Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Azizur Rahman said, "According to my engineer, walls of the houses are cracking and the floors are sinking due to poor quality of soil beneath the houses. We demolished seven houses already to rebuild them. We are also repairing the cracks that appeared on the 10-12 houses".
When asked where would the seven families go now, UNO Azizur told The Daily Star that they have moved to their relatives' homes where they lived before. "As soon as the house is built and renovated, we will bring them back".
He refuted any irregularities or misappropriation during the construction of these 55 houses said they already informed the higher authority about the condition of these houses.
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