A motion seeking to ensure citizens do not end up on the streets after being forced to evacuate their homes, has been submitted to the People’s Majlis.

The motion was presented by central-Fuvahmulah constituency MP Hussain Mohamed Didi during Wednesday’s parliament sitting.

The motion seeks to make it compulsory for proprietors to issue a two-month evacuation notice and ban them from forcing occupants to evacuate without doing so.

The purpose of the bill is to ensure special measures are put in place to provide assistance to individuals, families and businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has provoked a nationwide State of Public Health Emergency.

It seeks to bring certain amends to relevant bodies so as to ensure government operations remain uninterrupted.

The motion includes ways to provide ease for issues related to the global pandemic, issues related to employment, accommodation and those affected by the pandemic.

As such, the bill proposes to make it mandatory for proprietors to issue an evacuation notice dated two months, if they wish to vacate their property. It further seeks to ban proprietors from forcing occupants out of the property, without having given a notice.

During this time, basic amenities for occupants must be provided without interruption.

Further, the bill seeks to make the government responsible for providing accommodation for those who have been forced out onto the streets and are homeless, due to economic impacts of the pandemic. Basic standards for providing accommodation have also been noted in the motion.

The government is also to provide food for those in need, under specific standards and safety measures.

Highlighting that the motion drew criticism, MP Didi urged the parliamentarians to bring amends as they wish and for the bill to be passed in a way that benefits the people as much as possible.

A number of MPs had criticized the manner in which the government-sponsored bill was drafted, and most of them have proposed to bring amendments to the bill.