The government has planned to rehabilitate all Bihari people living in different camps across the country since the independence to Bosila under Mohammadpur Thana of Dhaka.
The Housing and Public Works Ministry has undertaken a massive project for their rehabilitation with proper accommodation and modern facilities.
The Tk 6101.23 crore project will be implemented in phases by government funding. The National Housing Authority will implement the project.
There are 116 camps for Urdu-speaking people commonly known as Biharis across the country. Mohammadpur Geneva Camp is the biggest of those where 35,000 people are living in only 14 acres of land.
Under the project, 1000 acres of land will be acquired to construct 58 buildings, 20-story each, to rehabilitate all Biharis in phases. Some 8800 apartments will be built in these 58 buildings. Each building will comprise 150 apartments. All the buildings and apartments will be constructed with sufficient civic amenities.
There will be commercial buildings, community centres, schools, colleges, mosque, playing grounds, parks, walking streets etc. in the project. There would be also pumping stations and electrical sub-station.
The project activities also include constructing roads, main drainage system, 10 culverts, deep tube-wells, gate light, consultant recruitment, jeep procurement, gas connection, tree plantation and others.
The main target of the government is to create permanent employment opportunities for Bihari people alongside their rehabilitation facilities through the project.
In the first phase, the government will rehabilitate Biharis of Dhaka Geneva Camp after constructing 760 apartments, 800 square feet each, sources at the planning commission told Bangladesh Post.
First phase of the project will be implemented from July 2019 to June 2022.
Sources said that after evaluating various sides and aspects of the project, the evaluation committee of the Planning Commission has approved it. It will be placed before the executive committee of the national economic council (ECNEC) soon.
Geneva Camp in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur is a colony of the stranded Pakistanis who migrated to the then East Pakistan from the Indian state of Bihar during the partition of 1947.