Uncertainty regarding rehabilitation of the local and returnee refugees heightened as the government stopped its relief programme a few days back. Besides, 10 employees of the TICHTRRA have not received their wages since the four-party alliance government took office in October 2001.

A high official at the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs said, "As none has been appointed to the top post of the taskforce after the former chairman quit two years ago, the office has not been functioning effectively."

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Dipankar expressed his dissatisfaction and concern about the future of the office. He blamed the government for neglecting the issue of rehabilitating the refugees.

He demanded reorganisation of the taskforce with public representatives. " Abandoning the relief programme, before the refugees could be rehabilitated, has been a big blow to the local people," he said.

"There is none here to look after us, though we have requested the four-party alliance government to look into our problems," said Prafulla Kumar Chakma, vice-president of the Returnee Tribal Refugee Welfare Association (RTRWA).

"We have long been expecting benefits on the basis of the 26-point charter that we reached with the government in late 1996. It inspired 66,600 indigenous people of 12,000 families to return from neighbouring Tripura state of India," Prafulla told The Daily Star.

"The decision to stop monthly distribution of relief materials to feed the returnee refugees has created great frustration among them and most of the refuge families are now facing extreme hardship," Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) chief Jyotirindra Bodhipriya alias Shantu Larma observed.

The matter was included in the 1997 peace accord, he said.

Prior to the signing of the peace agreement on December 2, 1997, the refugees returned home in six batches with the support of the government.

According to the peace agreement, the then AL government formed a nine-member taskforce headed by Dipankar Talukder for rehabilitation of the refugees and set up its office at Khagrachhari district headquarters in late 1998.

In August 2001, Talukder resigned before taking part in the October 1 parliamentary election. The post has since been lying vacant.

Meanwhile, 10 TCHTRRA staff members have not been paid their wages in the last two years, said an employee seeking anonymity.

"The government has not taken the initiative to restart the office," Shantu said and demanded immediate steps to rehabilitate the refugees who returned following the government assurance.

Controversy arose following inclusion of 38,000 Bangalee families on the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) refugee list. The PCJSS and other local representatives walked out of a taskforce meeting, protesting the inclusion of Bangalee settlers on the list of refugees.

Residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), belonging to different indigenous communities, crossed the border after facing persecution by plain-land settlers in the seventies and the eighties. They took shelter in the bordering Tripura state, a PCJSS and refugee leader said.

After a long bargain with the refugee leaders, the then Awami League government assured the refugees of getting back their ancestral homes, arable land, jobs and supply of food until they are fully rehabilitated after returning to the country.