02/24/2006

Dhelapir is a new government housing development located in the metropolitan area of Saidpur, Bangaldesh, a small city located 258 kilometers northwest of the capital city Dhaka. The local MP of Saidpur proudly talked about his role in getting the funding from the central government and planning it to include a majority of stateless Bihari families in the community. Of the 1,000 families who moved in about a year ago, 70 percent are Bihari who previously resided in the area in overcrowded camps and 30 percent are local Bangladesh residents. While there were some challenges at the beginning, Biharis told RI that in other parts of Bangladesh such integration would have been resisted even more strongly by the rest of the community since some people still harbor grievances that the Bihari sided with Pakistan during the civil war.