They now have roofs over their head

As a gift on the occasion of the Mujib Year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over newly built houses to 66,189 landless and homeless families in different districts across the country.

The PM took part in the handover ceremony through a video conference from her official Ganobhaban residence on Saturday morning while beneficiaries and government officials participated from different districts.

Each homeless people got a newly built semi-pucca house along with 200 decimal land, according to reports sent by our district correspondents.

Sources said the houses were made up of two rooms with brick walls, concrete floors and coloured tin canopies. The house also has a kitchen, a toilet and a front porch. 

In Faridpur, 1,480 semi-pucca houses were handed over to homeless people of nine upazilas of the district.

After the PM inaugurated the handing over ceremony, District Deputy Commissioner Atul Sarkar handed over the keys of the house and land deeds to the homeless at a programme organised at the hallroom of Sadar Upazila Complex.

At that time, the homeless people who got homes became overwhelmed with emotion. They thanked Hasina for getting the houses.

Presided over by Sadar UNO Md Masum Raza, ended, among others, by Superintendent of Police Md Alimuzzaman, Additional Deputy Commissioner Deepak Kumar Roy, Sadar Upazila Chairman Md Abdur Razzak Mollah, Upazila Engineer Azaharul Islam, different government officials, freedom fighters, and journalists. 

Houses were handed over to the homeless people in every upazila of the district at the same time.

In Pabna, a number of 1,086 homeless people got new houses and 200 decimal land on the occasion of the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibir Rahman.

From all the Upazila Parishad buildings of Pabna, homeless people along with the government officials took part in the handing over ceremony inaugurated by the PM from Ganobhaban through a video conference.

Lawmaker from Sadar constituency Golam Faruk Prince, Deputy Commissioner Kabir Mahmud, Superintendent of Police Muhibul Islam Khan, Sadar Upazila Chairman Mosharraf Hossain and District Parishad Chief Executive Kazi Atiur Rahman, among others, attended the vent at Pabna Sadar Upazila Parishad auditorium. Local people's representatives and freedom fighters also attended the event.

Pabna Deputy Commissioner Kabir Mahmud said the houses were made up of two rooms with brick walls, concrete floors and coloured tin canopies. It also has a kitchen, a toilet and a front porch. 

The list of homeless people has been finalised from the list sent by the local UP chairmen after being scrutinised by the Upazila Land Office, he added.

Lawmaker Golam Farooq said that by distributing houses to 70,000 homeless people across the country, Prime Minister proved once again proved that she would do what she said. 

Terming the initiative as an unimaginable achievement of the government, he said, "Such initiatives have made the helpless grassroots people of the country confident and give them courage to become self-reliant. On behalf of the people of Pabna, I am grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."

In Bagerhat, a number of 338 homeless people got new homes like many other districts of the country.

Deputy Commissioner of the district Anam Faizul Haque handed over the house keys and land deeds to 52 landless people of the Sadar upazila at a programme at UP premises.

Bagerhat Superintendent of Police Pankaj Chandra Roy, district Awami League General Secretary Adv Bhuiyan Hemayet Uddin, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Md Shahinuzzaman and Sadar Upazila Parishad Chairman Sardar Nasir Uddin, among others, attended the programme along with other officials and employees of the upazila administration and beneficiaries were present.

In Khulna, 922 homeless and landless families of the district got new semi-pucca homes as Mujib Year gifty from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A number of 3,225 homneless families of Khulna division got the new houses.

At the video conference, after getting the new house, Rina Begum (30), mother of one, told the PM, "I am very happy to have your house today. As a homeless person, i have passed many a hard times; sometimes on the street, sometimes on the porch of any house, sometimes in the rain under the open sky. May Allah grant you long life."

Lawmaker from Khulna-5 constituency Narayan Chandra Chand was present at the time, Khulna Divisional Commissioner Ismail Hossain, KMP Commissioner Masudur Rahman Bhuiyan, Khulna Range DIG Khandaker Mohid Uddin, Khulna Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Helal Hossain, Khulna Police Super SM Shafiullah and Khulna Zilla Parishad Chairman Sheikh Harunur Rashid, others, attended the programme along with various government officials and media personnel.