Saving the hills

Amid fresh reports of landslides in the hill tracts one is astounded to find that remedial measures recommended by an expert committee has gone completely unheeded so long. It is all but true that many of the calamities that visit us are manmade and compounded by our tinkering with nature. The recent disaster in the CHT and some parts of Chittagong district is an example of this. 

The 36 recommendations by the Divisional Hills Management Committee (HMC) following the death of 127 people in a landslide in Chittagong in 2007 remain unimplemented due to the indifference of the local administration as well the owners of the hills who happen to be both government agencies and private bodies. The worst hit has been the CHT where the spate of development has had the most deleterious consequences on the ecology of the area. Uncontrolled growth of habitation has contributed to the woes. 

We suggest that the recommendations of the HMC be implemented without delay and extended to the CHT also. And one of the reasons of lack of progress is inadequate fund, particularly for relocation and resettlement of people living in vulnerable areas. The administration should address the issue of funding, this as well as other technical infrastructure projects, immediately. And echoing the experts, the government should seek expert opinion in this regard and proceed in a substantive manner to address the problems of the endangered hilly areas in the country. It is regrettable that we live from calamity to calamity and rise up only when a disaster strikes us. Such an attitude should be purged.