�One House, One Farm� project to be extended

Govt buoyed up by success of phase-I

The government is contemplating extending the Prime Minister's priority project, "Ekti Bari, Ekti Khamar" ("One House, One Farm"), by five more years under the proposed second phase, it is learnt. The initiative has been taken after successful implementation of the first phase, which will end on June 30 this year. Sheikh Hasina has already shown the green light for extending the project, sources said.  According to project officials, as soon as the proposal is tabled before the Prime Minister, it will be sent to the executive committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval.
A "Palli Sanchay Bank" (PSB), or "Rural Savings Bank", will come into existence on July 1. Project officials and employees will be handed over charge under the newly established specialised bank, officials told The Independent.
The new phase of the project will be implemented under the Palli Sanchay Bank. The managing director (MD) of the bank will act as project director (PD), sources said. Officials and employees of the PSB will look after the activities of the project.
The Rural Development and Cooperatives Division (RDCD) is preparing the draft proposal for the project’s second phase, project director of "Ekti bari, ekti khamar", Proshanto Kumar Roy, told The Independent yesterday (Thursday).
He said: “We hope the authorities will send the proposal to the Prime Minister soon. She wants to extend it to ensure a beggar and poverty free Bangladesh by 2021. The second phase of the project might be extended till December 2020.”
He said 100 buildings have already been constructed across the country to set up offices for the project and the bank. More buildings will be constructed in all upazilas, districts and divisions under the project for housing banks and project offices, he said in reply to a query.
Sheikh Hasina yesterday opened an EBEK project building at Joypurhat through a teleconference from her official residence at Ganabhaban. According to officials, beneficiaries of the project have deposited around Tk. 905.41 crore during the last six years beginning from June, 2009. With this, total funds of the project have risen to Tk. 2,688.52 crore. Of this, the government has provided Tk. 1,660 crore as bonus against the deposit of the beneficiaries. The rest is interest on deposits. According to project documents, there are around 22 lakh beneficiaries under 40,512 societies of the project across the country. The number of direct and indirect beneficiaries under the project are almost 1.10 crore.
The Ekti Bari, Ekti Khamar is a poverty alleviation project launched by the government to reduce poverty through e-financial inclusion and income-generating activities. The households involved in the program are initially selected through the National Statistics Institute, according to the poorest areas of settlement, said a project document.

�One House, One Farm� project to be extended

Govt buoyed up by success of phase-I

The government is contemplating extending the Prime Ministers priority project, Ekti Bari, Ekti Khamar (One House, One Farm), by five more years under the proposed second phase, it is learnt. The initiative has been taken after successful implementation of the first phase, which will end on June 30 this year. Sheikh Hasina has already shown the green light for extending the project, sources said. According to project officials, as soon as the proposal is tabled before the Prime Minister, it will be sent to the executive committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval. A Palli Sanchay Bank (PSB), or Rural Savings Bank, will come into existence on July 1. Project officials and employees will be handed over charge under the newly established specialised bank, officials told The Independent. The new phase of the project will be implemented under the Palli Sanchay Bank. The managing director (MD) of the bank will act as project director (PD), sources said. Officials and employees of the PSB will look after the activities of the project. The Rural Development and Cooperatives Division (RDCD) is preparing the draft proposal for the projects second phase, project director of Ekti bari, ekti khamar, Proshanto Kumar Roy, told The Independent yesterday (Thursday). He said: We hope the authorities will send the proposal to the Prime Minister soon. She wants to extend it to ensure a beggar and poverty free Bangladesh by 2021. The second phase of the project might be extended till December 2020. He said 100 buildings have already been constructed across the country to set up offices for the project and the bank. More buildings will be constructed in all upazilas, districts and divisions under the project for housing banks and project offices, he said in reply to a query. Sheikh Hasina yesterday opened an EBEK project building at Joypurhat through a teleconference from her official residence at Ganabhaban. According to officials, beneficiaries of the project have deposited around Tk. 905.41 crore during the last six years beginning from June, 2009. With this, total funds of the project have risen to Tk. 2,688.52 crore. Of this, the government has provided Tk. 1,660 crore as bonus against the deposit of the beneficiaries. The rest is interest on deposits. According to project documents, there are around 22 lakh beneficiaries under 40,512 societies of the project across the country. The number of direct and indirect beneficiaries under the project are almost 1.10 crore. The Ekti Bari, Ekti Khamar is a poverty alleviation project launched by the government to reduce poverty through e-financial inclusion and income-generating activities. The households involved in the program are initially selected through the National Statistics Institute, according to the poorest areas of settlement, said a project document.