The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights In this regard, the Committee considers that instances of forced eviction are prima facie incompatible with the requirements of the Covenant and can only be justified in the most exceptional circumstances, and in accordance with the relevant principles of international law. Notwithstanding existing constitutional and international guarantees against forced evictions and earlier High Court judgments directing the Government to provide for proper notice and rehabilitation measures before displacement, slums have been demolished and their residents evicted every year. The first forcible eviction of slum dwellers after independence took place in 1975. Subsequently, slum dwellers have continued to be evicted to make way for public buildings or for private housing. Only in a few cases has eviction been followed by attempts at rehabilitation. In 1975, months after slum residents were evicted in Dhaka, attempts were made to resettle them in Dattapura in Tongi, Chanpara in Demra and Bhasantek in Mirpur. The resettlement area at Bhasantek relocated on low land, three kms west of Mirpur, was allotted by the Government in 1979 and, after lengthy negotiations, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) agreed to finance the project. The National Housing Authority undertook a rehabilitation project to provide housing for 2,600 families in Bhasantek in Dhaka. However, the plans have undergone several changes. In 2000, it was planned to provide shelter for the poor on a hire-purchase basis through public private partnership. Later on, after the change of Government in 2001, a new contract was signed with a private developer, North South Property Development Ltd. who subsequently reportedly deviated from the previous pro-poor plan. The contracts changed from long-term payment over ten years to shortterm payments over a two-year period. Those allocated housing were to receive the apartments after payment of the total installments, which was calculated at a monthly rate of around Taka 14,000 to cover the full price within two years. Many of the existing residents of the Bhashantek slum claimed that they could not afford this amount. 42 In 1989, the Ministry of Land formed a Dhaka Bosti Shomoshaya Niroshon Committee (Dhaka Metropolitan Slum Problems Eradication Committee) to identify the number of slums in Dhaka city and to plan for their phased rehabilitation. However, no effective programmes were undertaken for implementation of this project. In Dhaka’s Lalbagh area a multi-storied building project plan to house the poor in 1989 was abandoned and later employees of the Dhaka City Corporation occupied the buildings without giving a share to the poor. Not only has the Government defaulted in its commitments to provide housing, private entrepreneurs and non-government organizations have also not come forward to offer housing for slum dwellers. The larger NGOs which have accumulated massive savings on behalf of their members could have set up urban housing schemes. Grameen Bank has provided loans for rural housing but not for urban dwellers. Proshika did attempt to do so in a pioneering public private partnership initiative for Bhashantek Slum Resettlement but was ultimately not able to proceed, as the Government entered into an agreement with a private company. Recently, Shakti Foundation has taken an initiative to provide house-building support to its members who live in slums. Government schemes for urban housing have so far supported housing schemes for the privileged middle class mainly in metropolitan cities. The Master Plan for Dhaka, which was started in 1959 and continues to undergo changes, has provided no space for housing for workers, self-employed or day labourers. Several agencies have been given the responsibility for distribution of land in urban areas as well as for construction of houses. The Public Works Department (PWD) is the first and foremost house provider for Government officials and employees. In addition, semi-government agencies and autonomous organizations have been allotted land for construction of their offices and housing for their staff. These housing schemes, however, are limited to in-service officials/staff only. The facilities provided by PWD and other organizations are mostly concentrated in Dhaka and other district headquarters. The National Housing Authority also provides housing facilities to citizens in the name of Staff Quarters, Officers’ Quarters or 43