Urdu-speaking Bangladeshis to be rehabilitated from Mohammadpur refugee camps to flats in Keraniganj

The government is planning to construct 5,600 residential flats in Keraniganj of Dhaka for the rehabilitation of non-Bangalees living in Mohammadpur in 'Bihari camps'.

State Minister for Housing and Public Works Sharif Ahmed made the disclosure in the Parliament on Tuesday in response to a tabled question from the ruling party lawmaker elected from Barishal Md Shah E Alam, the UNB reported.

The minister also said there is a plan to gradually bring the marginalised community under sustainable development in all cities of the country.

Speaking to The Business Standard, Khalid Hussain, chief executive of the Council of Minorities, said, "The government issued a letter around 2016 which noted the initiative to rehabilitate Biharis in Keraniganj by providing the families with flats.

"Acquiring around 1,000 acres of land in Keraniganj has been in the talks, but the initiative is yet to be implemented," he added. 

People of the Urdu-speaking community currently residing in various camps across the country, however, have not agreed to the move. Instead, they have requested to be provided land so they could build their own homes rather than live in flats, considering their future family size, Khalid said.

Khalid expressed confidence that the rehabilitation would happen within this government's tenure as it was directly being led by the prime minister. 

Earlier in March last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her government planned to provide a better life for stranded Biharis in the country on humanitarian grounds.

"We want to see a human being as a human being. May be they didn't want to live here then, but where will they go now? Their next generations were born in this country. We have to do something for them," she said.