Slum dwellers
Photo: Azizur Rahim peu / Driknews
This is a matter of shame that the government is again planning to evict slum dwellers of Dhaka city. I admit that they do not own the land in which they live. At the same time I must ask who made them homeless? On many occasions rural Godfathers and developers made them homeless either by force or by cheating them. Moreover, the government acquired many lands in rural areas through acquisition as part of the decision to provide opportunity to the people of Dhaka city for housing that resulted in rendering many land owners homeless and they were forced to take shelter in the vacant lands of the government. On the other hand, due to river erosion, floods and other natural calamities in Bangladesh, the unfortunate people who became homeless and having no profession, and no provisions for food and shelter, migrated to urban areas and started living in the government vacant lands. It deserves mention that most of the slum dwellers engage themselves in jobs of rickshaw pullers, day labours, garment workers, domestic helpers, office peon etc for maintaining their marginal level livelihoods. They are contributing to society hugely but are being paid back very low amount of money. Some people say that crime rate is high in slums, which is ridiculous. If we compare the crime rate of any ministry of the government it will be much higher than the crime committed by the slum dwellers. If for the sake of argument we consider that the crime rate in slums is high, then again the government is largely responsible for that. People who do not have any permanent address will feel more secure to commit crimes. If slum is a curse of over population, then again I must say successive governments failed to spread education among the poor people. Article 15 of the Constitution of People's Republic of Bangladesh states that the State will provide basic necessities of life including shelter for all. So, it is up to the government whether they respect the constitution or violate it.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments