Squatting in Bangladeshoccurs whensquattersmakeinformal settlementsknown as "bastees" on the periphery of cities such asChittagong,DhakaandKhulna.As of 2013, almost 35 per cent ofBangladesh's urban population lived in informal settlements.
History
editSquattingin the territory which would becomeBangladeshhas a long history, reaching back to theMughal Empire.After thePartition of Bengalin 1947, Muslims migrated to what becameEast Pakistan.[1]In contemporary times, squatting since the 1971Bangladesh Liberation Warhas resulted from factors such as migration from rural areas to urban ones, the lack of affordable housing, bad governance and natural disasters.[1][2]: 17–18 As well as informal settlements on the ground, there arerooftop slumsand boat squatters.[1]There are also rural squatters who make land grabs.[3]
During theBangladesh famine of 1974,flooding affected 80 per cent of the country and almost 100,000 people were displaced to 183 camps inDhaka.After the flooding subsided, many refugees decided to live ininformal settlementson the periphery of Dhaka rather than going home.[2]: 25–26 These are known as "bastees".[4]At the time this was the only available option since there was already a housing deficit of 47,195 units and little option to rent, except in the innercityslums.Thus ten per cent of Dhaka's population were squatters in 1974.[2]: 31–36 The following year, the government began a forcible resettlement program which moved 200,000 squatters either back to their villages or into camps atDemra,MirpurandTongi.Whilst most resettled people stayed in the camps, this did not stop informal settlements growing in Dhaka.[5][6]
In the early 1990s, the city ofChittagonghad a population of just over 1.5 million, of which there were an estimated 66,676 squatters living in 69 areas.[6]As of 2013, almost 35 per cent of Bangladesh's urban population lived in informal settlements. InKhulna,the largest squatted area was Supraghat, with 15,875 residents.[7]
References
edit- ^abcAbdullah, A. Q. M.; Roy, Gouri S. (2005)."Assessing needs and scopes of upgrading urban squatters in Bangladesh".BRAC University Journal.2(1):33–41. Archived fromthe originalon 2021-05-01.Retrieved2021-04-03.
- ^abcChoguill, Charles L. (1987).New Communities for Urban Squatters.New York & London: Plenum Press.doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-1863-7.ISBN978-1-4612-9039-1.
- ^Adnan, Shapan (January 2013). "Land grabs and primitive accumulation in deltaic Bangladesh: interactions between neoliberal globalization, state interventions, power relations and peasant resistance".Journal of Peasant Studies.40(1):87–128.doi:10.1080/03066150.2012.753058.S2CID154570524.
- ^Rahman, Mohammed Mahbubur (March 2001). "Bastee eviction and housing rights".Habitat International.25(1):49–67.doi:10.1016/S0197-3975(00)00026-6.
- ^Shakur, Tasleem (January 1988). "Implications for policy formulation towards sheltering the homeless".Habitat International.12(2):53–66.doi:10.1016/0197-3975(88)90026-4.
- ^abChowdhury, Iftekhar Uddin."Problems of Squatter Settlements in Bangladesh: A Case of Chittagong City".
- ^Roy, Manoj; Hulme, David; Jahan, Ferdous (April 2013)."Contrasting adaptation responses by squatters and low-income tenants in Khulna, Bangladesh".Environment and Urbanization.25(1):157–176.doi:10.1177/0956247813477362.S2CID154067395.