Satkhira townies demand housing for climate refugees

SATKHIRA, Aug 20: About one in four residents of Satkhira Municipality are low-income people living in slums or informal settlements, many of whom have migrated to the town after losing their land to river erosion, cyclones and increasing salinity, civic leaders said on Thursday.

They called for an eight-point plan to address the housing crisis and protect the town’s vulnerable residents from climate-related disasters.

The demands were raised at a citizen dialogue titled “What to do to solve the housing crisis of low-income landless slum dwellers of Satkhira,” organised by the Bangladesh Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK) at Mangrove Hall in Satkhira.

Gazi Mahida Mizan, a BARCIK programme officer, presented a concept paper at the event, which was chaired by Abu Affan Rose Babu, President of Green Coalition, Satkhira.

According to the paper, Satkhira, a coastal district, faces serious climate risks and attracts disaster-displaced people seeking livelihoods. Of the municipality's population of about 2 lakh, an estimated 50,000 are low-income street or slum dwellers, it said.

The residents contribute to the city's waste management, transportation, household services and construction sectors but are often excluded from urban development plans, according to the paper.

It also said 104 families from Itagachha slum were evicted in 2024 for widening the Satkhira-Shyamnagar road without being provided alternative housing. The families have since been living in difficult conditions, it said.

The dialogue called for disaster-resistant housing for the evicted families and other low-income residents; a permanent solution to water-logging; subsidised drinking water, electricity and sewage services; technical education for slum children; and an end to evictions without alternative rehabilitation.

Civic leaders, activists, cultural workers and slum residents, including Pabitra Mohan Das, Kishori Mohan Sarkar, Madhab Chandra Dutta, M Kamruzzaman, Mostafizur Rahman Ujjal, Golam Sarwar, Ali Nur Khan Babul, Siddiqur Rahman and BARCIK regional coordinator Md Shaheen Islam, spoke at the event.