Awami League govt is needed for continuation of development: HPM Sheikh Hasina

Mentioning that the government wants peace and security of the people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said continuation of the government is very much needed for development of the country.

"We're accomplishing the development work as we remain in state power for nine years at a stretch from 2009 to 2017. So the continuation of the government is a must for uplift," she said.

Sheikh Hasina also renewed her pledge to ensure housing for all, saying that none will remain homeless in the country. "Our policy is clear that there will not be a single person to remain homeless in Bangladesh," she said.

The prime minister said this while laying the foundation stone of the first-ever rental-based flat construction project for slum-dwellers in city's Mirpur.

She laid the foundation stone of the project through videoconferencing from her official Ganabhaban residence on Thursday morning.

Through the same function, the prime minister laid the foundation stone of the first-ever residential flat construction project on the abandoned houses at Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur in the capital.

The premier said the government has contained militancy and terrorism with iron hands. "We want peace and security of the people and we got enough time for development as we wOn in the 2014 general elections," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said the BNP-Jamaat government stopped all works that the previous Awami League government started in 1996. "The BNP-Jamaat after coming to power in 2001 didn't take any single work forward ... they destroyed everything by plundering," she said.

The prime minister said the country's development was accelerated as the people cast vote for Awami League in 2014 braving all hurdles.

"Bangladesh is now a role model of development ... we want to take the country ahead further and we want Bangladesh to be established as a poverty- free developed Bangladesh," she said, thanking all the people of the country for giving mandate to her party in the last polls.

The prime minister said her government has been working tirelessly to bring smiles on the face of distressed people, including the slum-dwellers.

"We don't want slums to exist in the country as it's not a matter of pride for any country," she said.

But, she said, the slum-dwellers are also human beings and they have also rights to live with dignity and "it's our responsibility to protect their rights".

Sheikh Hasina said the slum-dwellers are leading an inhuman life in the slums while they have to spend a huge amount of money as rent.

"But there are no facilities for them in the slums . . . our aim is to free them from that sufferings," she said.

She said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman dedicated her life to bringing smiles on the face of the distressed people.

"It will be our success of life if we do something for the distressed people," she said.

The prime minister said the government is constructing rental-based flat for slum-dwellers all over the country so they could live beautifully with the rent.

"The huts are not seen to that extent at villages now and tin-shed houses take places instead of huts ... we have been able to do it," she said.

The premier said during the previous 1996-2001 tenure of her government took the Ashrayan Project and Ghore Fera Programme for the rehabilitation of the homeless and slum-dwellers.

"We had taken a project for construction of 16,000 flats in city's Bhashantek for the low-income people," she said.

While talking about the capital's water-logging problem, Sheikh Hasina said this problem has been created due to filling up ponds, canals and other waterbodies in an unplanned way.

"Waterbodies will have to be kept everywhere to remove water-logging as well as protect environment," she said.

Sheikh Hasina urged the people to maintain the flats properly and directed concerned authorities to make ID Cards for the flat recipients so that they are not harassed in future.

The government is constructing 10,000 flats for slum-dwellers at Mirpur Section-11 and 202 residential flats for the government officials and common people at Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur in the capital as part of efforts to develop a planned housing for all.

The National Housing Authority (NHA) through its own fund will construct 10,000 flats for the slum-dwellers on 10 acres of land at Mirpur-11 in the capital in line with a concept initiated by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the National Housing Policy-2016.

In the first phase of the scheme, 533 flats would be constructed in five 14-storey buildings on two acres of land, while 9,467 flats would be built in eighty 14-storey apartments on eight acres of land in the second phase.

The first phase of the project will be implemented at a cost of about Taka 111 crore.

Meanwhile, the NHA will construct 253 flats on 2.07 acres of land at Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur at a cost of Taka 373 crore.

Of the flats, 202 would be sold among government officials and common people, while remaining 51 flats would be handed over to the NHA.

Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain delivered the welcome address at the function, moderated by PM's Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury.

Housing and Public Works Secretary Shahidullah Khandakar gave an overview on the two projects through a power point presentation.

Chief Coordinator on the Sustainable Development Goals at the Prime Minister's Office Abul Kalam Azad, Senior PMO Secretary Suraiya Begum and PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim were present, among others.

Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, MP, and Iliyas Uddin Mollah, MP, among others, spoke at the function joining the videoconferencing.

Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol