City Corporation Act
Exclusion depriving slum dwellers
Workshop told
Slum dwellers are being deprived of their rights to enjoy the facilities of Dhaka city corporations as they have not been included in The Local Government (City Corporation) Act-2009, said speakers at a workshop yesterday.
Although serving the residents of the capital in many ways, the financially insolvent slum dwellers are often becoming the victims of eviction due to the absence of their housing rights, they added.
Eviction also deprives children residing in slums of educational facilities, they told the national workshop, “Incorporating Onneyshan's proposals in the city corporation act to ensure slum dwellers' rightsâ€, says a press release.
Onneyshan, a non-government organisation, organised the workshop with assistance from Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) in the capital's Cirdap Auditorium.
Currently around four lakh financially insolvent people live in some 4,000 slums in the city but they do not have facilities like access to electricity and fuel, they said.
The speakers demanded that the government includes slum dwellers in the city corporation act to ensure their rights and keep the city's environment friendly towards all.
State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan addressed the workshop as chief guest.
Awami League lawmakers AKM Mozammel Haque, Prof Sagufta Yasmin Emily and Alhaj Ilias Uddin Mollah, Narayanganj City Corporation Mayor Dr Selina Hayat Ivy and MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam also spoke at the workshop.
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