Some 280,634 people now homeless: Minister

The number of homeless people in the country is now 280,634 while that of landless 1.07, land minister Shamsur Rahman Sherif told parliament on Tuesday, reports UNB.

"Now the number of landless people is 1.06 million while that of homeless is 280,634 in the country," he said.

The minister was responding to an unstarred (written) question from Awami League MP Nizam Uddin Hazari (Feni-2).

The minister said the total Khas land in the country is now 4.12 million acres. Of the Khas land, some 2.05 million acres are arable one and 2.07 million acres non-arable one, he added.

Khas lands are allocated among landless poor people as they are rehabilitated through setting up of cluster villages and housing projects, he said.

Sherif said the government has a target to allocate Khas lands among 50,000 landless families in the current fiscal year.

Besides, Khas lands are allocated among 48 landless families in every upazila as per the Agricultural Khas Land Management and Settlement Policy 1997, the minister told the House.