Tenants leave government colonies as inspections set to begin

“On 22 October, the landlord suddenly served me with a notice to vacate the flat. I was at my village home for the Durga Puja holidays at the time. When I returned to Dhaka on the 26th, I could not stay in the flat for even another day. I wandered from place to place, staying wherever I could. The landlord strictly instructed me to remove all my belongings and leave by 31 October.”

A third-year student at Eden Mohila College was describing her experience. She rented a room in a flat in a building at Azimpur Government Colony (Zone B) in the capital. She was one of many students living in the colony as subtenants.

The student was found at Azimpur Government Colony on Saturday at around 11:15 am. She was loading furniture and other belongings onto a van.

Requesting anonymity, the student said the agreement was that the landlord would give at least two months’ notice before asking her to leave.

Similarly, tenants were required to give two months’ notice if they wished to vacate the flat. However, neither condition was respected. Instead, she was forced to leave abruptly.

“We have our final examinations next December. I do not know how I will prepare for them in this situation. It will take me at least a month to recover from this trauma,” she said.

Students from various educational institutions, including the University of Dhaka, Eden Mohila College, Begum Badrunnesa Government Women's College, College of Applied Human Science (Home Economics College) and Dhaka College, rent rooms as subtenants at Azimpur Government Colony. Most of them are female students, who feel safe living in the government colony.

The students rent accommodation there out of necessity, as they come from different districts and securing a place in their respective institutions' halls of residence is not easy. The exact number of students living in the colony is unknown. However, students estimate that the figure could exceed 1,000.

Many government employees rent out their allotted flats. Some let out their entire flats, while others rent out one or two rooms.

Sources say a section of those who rent out their entire flats do so to live elsewhere at a lower cost while earning additional income from their government accommodation.

Another section has substantial additional income and no interest in living in their old government flats. They also want to earn extra money by renting out the properties. Those who rent out one or two rooms mainly do so because their salaries are insufficient to cover their living expenses.

This practice of renting out government accommodation has continued for years in Azimpur and other government colonies across Dhaka.

On Thursday, the Directorate of Government Accommodation, under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, issued an urgent public notice stating that if any subtenant or tenant remained in a government flat after 31 October, the allotment of the flat to the relevant government employee would be cancelled. The notice also warned of disciplinary and legal action against those concerned.

A significant number of government employees at Azimpur Government Colony used to rent out their flats, while another section disapproved of the practice. Senior-ranking government officials, in particular, were opposed to it.

Speaking about the removal of tenants, Mahbub Alam, general secretary of the management committee of building no. 22 at Azimpur Government Colony (Zone B), told Prothom Alo that some residents might have rented out individual rooms, and complaints had been received about such cases.

“However, everyone has already been asked to leave. There are no tenants left,” he said.

Students said that, over the past few days, hundreds of students and tenants from other professions had been forced to leave their rented accommodation in the government colonies in Azimpur and Palashi.

However, many had yet to find new accommodation, as the search for a new home usually needs to begin at least a month in advance.

A third-year student at Begum Badrunnesa Government Women's College said, “I searched for accommodation in different areas every day until 11:00 pm or midnight. Even then, I could not find anywhere.”

She added, “We are renting accommodation in different places only because we could not secure a place in the halls of residence.”

The student urged the college authorities to arrange accommodation in the residential halls on an emergency basis in view of the situation.

The situation was different at the government officers' and employees' residential area in Paikpara, Mirpur-1. No one was seen leaving their accommodation during a visit to the area from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm on Saturday.

Conversations with security guards at the colony gate and shopkeepers in the surrounding area yielded the same information. They also said they had not seen anyone leave their accommodation that day.

Meanwhile, several young men were seen in front of the old five-storey buildings at the Walk-up Government Employees' Residential Area in Mirpur-1.

They said the Public Works Department (PWD) had conducted raids on vacant flats and sealed them. Many residents of the area had already moved into the new multi-storey buildings nearby.

There are government colonies in various parts of the capital. According to statistics from the Directorate of Government Accommodation, the capital has a total of 19,091 government flats of different categories. Demand for rented accommodation is particularly high in the Azimpur area, which has 3,252 flats.

Meanwhile, Jahirul Islam Khan, director of the Directorate of Government Accommodation, told Prothom Alo that tenants and subtenants had been instructed to vacate their accommodation by 31 October.

Officials from the directorate would now conduct inspections. If they found anyone living in a flat as a subtenant or tenant, they would take legal action against the government employee in whose name the flat had been allotted.

Jahirul Islam said most tenants had already left their accommodation, while some were in the process of moving out.

He also said the authorities had not given tenants just one day's notice to vacate their flats. They had been given a week. Moreover, he questioned why people living there illegally should be given additional time, as they were occupying the accommodation unlawfully.

Students said everyone knew that people rented out flats at Azimpur Government Colony. They had no objection to the authorities asking tenants to leave. However, they said there was no need to subject people to unnecessary hardship.

Speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, a student said it was impossible to find accommodation within seven days. She had walked around helplessly searching for a place to stay but had found nothing.

“We are citizens of this country too. We have not committed any serious offence. What harm would it have caused the government if it had given us a month to find new accommodation and move out?” she said.