Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said some people broke houses, given by her government to the homeless as a gift for Mujib Borsho, with hammers and shovels and the media published photos of the houses without digging out the truth.

"The way they deliberately made cracks in those houses is unbelievable. Investigation has already revealed their names. I have the full report," she said.

Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, was speaking while presiding over a meeting of the AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) held at the Gono Bhaban, BSS reported.

Terming the attitude of some unscrupulous people "disgusting", Hasina said, "The most unfortunate thing is after we decided to give houses to every person, I saw the houses collapse in a few places. I surveyed different places after seeing the pictures of the houses.

"Some people in certain areas have broken the houses and took their photos. The names of such people have been unearthed through investigation and I have the full report," she said, mentioning that around one and a half lakh houses were built in different areas under the Ashrayan-2 project.

"The houses were being constructed for the poor people. From the photos it is easily understood that the houses were intentionally damaged. The media captured their photos and published them without digging out how it happened."

The PM said as many as 600 houses were built in one place and a few of those developed cracks due to landslides caused by heavy rainfall. "And we found nine places where there were some allegations of corruption. That is only in nine places but elsewhere I have seen that everyone has worked sincerely," she added.

The head of the government said upazila nirbahi officers, deputy commissioners and other government employees were given the responsibility to oversee the work and many of them came forward to help build the houses. There were many who supplied bricks at a very low cost, she said.

"In this journey, everyone's cooperation and sincerity has been prominent. But there are some intellectual evil persons... that is the most painful thing," she said.

Hasina said, "When these are the houses of the poor, then how could they touch it? We've handled the matter but our leaders and activists need to be more vigilant."

She also said that after seeing or knowing about such incidents, the local Juba League and Awami League leaders visited the spots. They were monitoring the areas with the houses.

After nearly a year, a meeting of the AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) was held yesterday, which had discussions on party councils in the districts running with expired committees.

According party insiders, the previous ALCWC meeting was held on October 3 last year.

The insider said at yesterday's meeting the AL president said a political party hardly acts as a political party if it stays in power for 12 years. She said they have the power as well as crises to face and asked her party colleagues to get united and take preparations for the next national election, scheduled to be held in 2023.

She asked them to devote all their attention to make the party stronger with the polls approaching, added the insiders.