DHAKA: The number of slum dwellers in Dhaka will cross the 10 million mark in the next five years as the uncontrolled migration of the rural poor continues unabated.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, two-thirds of the rural poor of the country do not own any land while 40 percent who belong to the low-income group own only two percent of the land area.

Official statistics shows some 20 million people will live in Dhaka after five years and almost half of them will have to take shelter in the slums, reports Xinhua.

Like in Dhaka, population pressure has also alarmingly increased in all other big cities during the last decade. Urban poverty has also increased with the widening disparity between the poor and the rich.

Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna have around 3,000 slums, 88 percent of which are in Dhaka alone.

Life of the slum dwellers goes on without any proper water supply, sanitation or education, posing serious problems especially for children.

Economist Abul Barakat pointed out that Dhaka city had become overburdened with people because of the huge inflow of the rural poor.

Most migrants are too unskilled to find jobs in Dhaka. They either start plying rickshaws or become day labourers, said another expert.

Courtesy Indo-Asian News Service