Urdu speakers of Dhaka seek accommodation on unused land

A platform of Urdu-speaking people residing in Dhaka yesterday demanded that they be rehabilitated by being provided unused land at Baunia and Rupnagar area.

Engaged in professions only available in the city, they should not be moved to faraway places, said members of "Urdu Speaking People's Youth Rehabilitation Movement Bangladesh" at a discussion in the capital's Jatiya Press Club.

Reading out their demands, the platform President Md Sadakat Khan (Fakku) urged the government not to evict residents of "Bihari camps" in Dhaka before they were rehabilitated properly. "Please relieve us from the constant fear of eviction," he urged.

In the camps, families of 12-15 people live in 80 square feet rooms and take turns to sleep at night, he said. "We need to be rehabilitated to a place where our people can live with dignity," he said.