Roybeti on road to a new living

The family is properly fed now and she thinks of sending her children to school.

She gets 3 kgs of rice and Tk 20 for three to four hours' daily work in the morning.

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She is among 9100 destitute women, working under the Rural Road Maintenance Programme (RRMP) in Panchhari.

"I'm happy. May family gets food three times a day. I dream of sending my children to school", she told this correspondent last week.

"Earlier I had to procure firewood from the jungle. That was very risky and I had to spend almost the whole day. Now I have time to look after my children," she said.

The RRMP project, financed by the government and the World Food Programme (WFP), covers 675 km roads in Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban, said officials of the Local Government and Engineering Department, which is implementing it.

The first phase of the project, launched in fiscal 1998-99, has been completed.

The second was launched in June last year.