Five hundred and sixty four homeless families in five upazilas under the district have got new houses.

The houses built under the Ashrayan-2 project, run by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), were handed over to the beneficiaries in the last one month.

Of the 564 houses, 180 were built in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, 80 in Aditmari, 103 in Kaliganj, 21 in Hatibandha and 180 in Patgram upazilas, according to the sources at Lalmonirhat deputy commissioner's office.

Seventy-five-year-old widow Sukho Bewa of Dhairkhata village in Sadar upazila, who earns her livelihood by begging, said although she has three decimals of land, she had to live in others' houses as she has no ability to build her own house.

Monari Bala Robidas, 68, wife of late Krishnakanto Robidas of the village, said she is now living at her own house built by the government on her four decimals of land.

“We are happy to get our own house in our two decimals of land,” Purno Chandra Sen of Senpara village in Aditmari upazila, said, adding, “As I had no ability to build my own house, I and my four-member family had to live in our relatives' houses.”

Lalmonirhat Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shafiul Arif said people who have their own land but do not have the ability to erect a house there were enlisted as the beneficiaries under the Ashrayan-2 project.

Under the project, Tk one lakh was allocated for constructing each tin-shed house with a veranda and a sanitary latrine, the DC added.