BANGLADESH: Landless numbers on the rise – Millions of people are affected by river erosion and flooding each year
DHAKA, 8 June 2010 (IRIN): When Roton Mia could no longer make ends meet working for two US dollar (ca. 12 DKR) a day, he sold his land in central Kishoreganj District to feed his wife and two children.
With no choice but to move to a slum in Dhaka, the capital city, Mia and his family are now among millions of Bangladesh’s landless.
– When you need to feed your family and you do not have enough income, selling your land is the only way to survive, the 35-year-old said, adding: – There are many problems in the slum, like a water crisis, a lack of space – but I have no option to go anywhere.
Landless families often end up in the slums of Dhaka, while luckier ones live on govern-ment-owned land in rural areas.
Millions of Bangla-deshi households have lost their property, either through poverty, natural disasters or land-grabbing by corrupt elites.
Of Bangladesh’s more than 160 million inhabitants, close to 4,5 million are completely landless, mostly in rural areas, according to a 2008 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics survey.
– The number of landless people is higher than government statistics, and it is growing at a high rate, said Shamsul Huda, executive director of the Association for Land Reforms and Development (ALRD), an NGO working for the land rights for poor people.
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