Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar: Host community hit hard by unemployment
Mohammad Shahabuddin used to be a farmer in Kutupalong area of Ukhia upazila of Cox’s Bazar. He won a national award for farming on four acres of land he had rented for 30 years from a local mosque.
But the mosque management cancelled the lease last year and rented the land out to NGOs that have started working in the area after the Rohingya refugee influx.
“I was eventually forced to leave farming and become an auto-rickshaw puller,” the 58-year-old said.
Similarly, many fishermen in the area had to change their profession after the Rohingya influx and a subsequent ban on fishing in the Naf river.
“I have my own fishing boat. But now I sell vegetable at a local market,” said Joynal Abedin, adding that he had been a fisherman for nearly 20 years.
According to a report the UNDP and PRI published in July, around 5,000 acres of land have been rendered useless due to deforestation of the hills.
Groundwater table in Teknaf and Ukhia upazilas is also falling rapidly due to excessive extraction required to meet the demand of the 7.5 lakh Rohingya refugees.
The report titled “Impacts of the Rohingya Refugee Influx on Host Communities” mentions that about 20 per cent of host community households reported experiencing problems arising from declining underground water levels, as their wells, tube wells and shallow pumps dried out.
The groundwater levels around the refugee camp areas are reported to have fallen by between 5 and 9 metres. Even irrigation wells are slowly drying up, it said.
“We used to get water around 15-20 feet below the surface. But that has become impossible now,” Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, a resident of Ukhia, told The Daily Star.
The UNNDP report is based on a micro survey administered among sampled households in Cox’s Bazar. It covered 404 households.
Crowded conditions in the refugee camps force latrine construction too close to drinking water sources. This significantly increases the chances of faecal infection and outbreak of many diseases, it said.
“Teknaf has always faced a lack of freshwater for agricultural production. Faecal contamination is now present in more than four-fifths of sources.”
According to the forest department, the Rohingya influx and refugee camps depleted about 4,818 acres of forest reserves worth $ 55 million.
An estimated 750,000 kg of timber, vegetation and roots are collected as cooking fuel for the refugees every day.
Locals also complain of the labour market being dominated by the refugees.
The report said that wages in the rest of Cox’s Bazar had risen by 6.7 percent in the last two years, but declined in Teknaf and Ukhia by 20 percent on average.
Some 750,000 Rohingyas had fled violence during a crackdown in Myanmar since August 2017 and came to Bangladesh. They have been living in refugee camps in Teknaf and Ukhia.
About 300,000 others, who had fled earlier waves of violence in Myanmar, have also been living in Bangladesh.
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