Residents of the Mirpur Housing Estate, along with members of the Government Employees Welfare Association in Section 14, staged a protest on Friday against what they described as sudden pre-eviction measures by the National Housing Authority (NHA).
The protesters formed a ‘Humanitarian human chain’ at Mirpur Section 14, raising concerns over the NHA’s alleged attempts to declare several buildings abandoned or uninhabitable without prior notice. They also claimed that water, gas, and electricity connections were being targeted for disconnection.
Speaking at the protest, one resident said, “On 18 June, an administrative officer of the NHA informed us that on 22 September, the chairman wished to meet 10 to 12 allottees.
During the meeting, we were told to ‘prepare mentally’ to vacate our homes and were discouraged from pursuing any legal action.” Residents further alleged that they were threatened with dismissal of any legal challenge by the public works secretary or the attorney general.
The housing project was built in the 1970s on a hire-purchase basis for ordinary citizens. While the project’s proforma was later amended to favor government employees, successive governments have approved policy decisions to sell or permanently allocate flats to the allottees.
Meetings in 1997, 2000, 2010, and 2012 by various ministries and the NHA board decided to sell or permanently allocate the flats to the allottees. In the 106th board meeting in 2012, the price of each flat was set at Tk13,45,583. However, none of these decisions have been implemented to date.
Among the speakers at the protest were allottees Ruhul Amin, Md Abul Kashem, Md Abu Zafor, Mahbub Morshed Setu, Faruk Hossain Chanchal, Lashkar Md Taslim, and Kazi Md Rashedul Ahsan.
They said that on 30 November, 21 buildings were suddenly declared abandoned or uninhabitable, with signboards posted without prior notice.
Just days later, on 3 December, teams reportedly moved to disconnect utilities, claiming instructions from the public works secretary.
The residents demanded an immediate halt to the declaration of buildings as abandoned, a stop to any attempts to disconnect utilities without notice.
