DHAKA: Finance Minister AMA Muhith Tuesday said civic amenities alike urban society must be ensured in the villages if to halt rural-to-urban internal migration that appears to have assumed a crisis proportion.

“People from villages are rushing towards the cities because we failed to improve the rural life. Such discrimination halted our national progress,” said the custodian of national exchequer, in a frank admission of the failure to bridge the gap.  

Muhith was addressing a function launching the ‘Ghore Fera (homecoming) project organized by Bangladesh Krishi Bank at Diploma Engineers Institute in the capital.

He said: “We must make our villages like the villages in Switzerland or South Korea where all the civic amenities like power, water, education and health facilities are available.”   

The Minister also emphasised protecting agricultural land and bridging the inequality gap between the urban and rural areas by generating employment opportunities.

He hoped that programmes like ‘return home’ would help in bridging the gap.

Krishi Bank has been implementing the Tk 5 crore project financing the slum-dwellers of the towns to become self-reliant and return to rural areas.

The project initially started in 1999 but had stopped in 2002.

Some 254 families of 14 slums in Dhaka received Tk 40,000-Tk 240,000 as loan to return to their respective villages and start economic activities afresh.

Krishi Bank chairman Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled chaired the function while Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman was also present.

BDST: 1720HRS, JULY 27, 2010