50,000 still at landslide risk

Neighbourhoods are still built cutting down slopes of hills and in the valleys ignoring the dangers of landslides. The photo was taken at Matijharna near Lalkhanbazar in Chittagong. Photo: STAR

Around 50,000 people living on the slopes of hills in Chittagong are at great risk of landslide in the rainy season.
Though they are still living in danger, the authorities concerned are yet to evacuate them or take any effective measure in this regard.
Of them, around 15,000 people are living on the slopes or bottom of 12 hills that were identified as “Red Zones,” by a government-formed technical committee in 2008, sources said.
The hill management committee was formed following a landslide of Chittagong hills on June 11, 2007 that left 127 people killed. It also saw another landslide on August 18, 2008 that killed 11 people but the committee is yet to do anything visible.
The committee had identified some risky hillsides and valleys. It suggested declaring the risky areas as "Red Zones" and afforestation after shifting people to a suitable place.
Following the August landslide on 2008, the technical committee, headed by the chairman of Chittagong Development Authority, had also identified the 12 hills as risky.
The hills include Pari Pahar, AK Khan Pahar, several hills at Lalkhan Bazar as well as the hills of Chittagong City Corporation, public works department (PWD) and Bangladesh Railway.
Ten to 15 thousand people are living in the slopes of the hills, sources said.
This technical committee submitted a plan suggesting proper management of the hills through tree plantation, construction of retaining walls or soil consolidation after rehabilitating people of those areas and other risky areas.
Bangladesh Railway, Wasa, PWD and police department, which own most of the dangerous land, were instructed to follow the plan.
“But the hill management process was being hampered since people living there could not be evacuated or rehabilitated,” M Sirajul Haq Khan, Chittagong divisional commissioner and chief of the hill management committee, told The Daily Star.
He said the hill management committee held a meeting a week ago to discuss the progress of its plan.
“After hearing the news of landslides in Cox's Bazar and Bandarban [on Monday] we have directed all authorities concerned to start miking today (Tuesday) for evacuating people from the risky areas,” said Khan while replying to a querry.
But the evacuation of people has become difficult without their rehabilitation, he added.
Sources said a 27-acre khas hilly land in Hathazari upazila has been selected for their rehabilitation immediately after the June 2007 landslide. But this site had to be cancelled as it fell under the firing range of the Bangladesh Army.
The site is also a bit far from the centre place of the city that discouraged people to go there, sources said.
The hilly land also needed a trimming or levelling before setting up cluster villages but such works were against the existing laws. As a result, the hill management committee has to look for an alternative site, said the sources.
The committee later selected another 5.92 acres of land worth Tk 53 crore belonging to Bangladesh Railway at Jahan Ali Hat near Kalurghat Bridge.
“We are yet to get any response from the ministry concerned regarding the land [the alternative site],” said Zaker Hossain, ADC (revenue) and member secretary of the committee.
Zafar Alam, immediate past member secretary and former ADC (revenue), said, “We sent a project proposal to the food and disaster management ministry in mid-2008 to rehabilitate the people on the selected land at Jahan Ali Hat.
Over one lakh disadvantaged people, mainly self-employed, garment workers and day labourers, are living in some 1,814 slums in the city. Half of the slums are on risky hill slopes and at foothills, sources said.
On Monday, at least 56 people were killed and scores injured in a series of rain-triggered landslides in Cox's Bazar and Bandarban districts.