CHT accord is to uphold hill people's rights

Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace accord of 1997 was signed in full accordance with the country's sovereignty and integrity.
He said the peace accord was for upholding the political, social, cultural, educational and economic rights of the peoples living in the hilly region.
In conformity with the agreement, some government steps have already been taken and the process is on, he told community leaders of the region at a meeting in Rangamati.
Mentioning a handful of the government steps taken in last 10 years, he said as per the agreement, 65,000 repatriated families were rehabilitated under the agreed 20-point package facilities and other financial facilities.
The chief adviser said the CHT regional council, hill district councils and the land commission have been formed through formulating appropriate laws. Of them, the regional council and the three hill district councils are carrying on with their activities, and the district councils are "gradually turning into central points of development of the hill districts".
“Many transferable matters have been given to the district parishads and the process of transferring six more affairs is being expedited," he informed the function.
About land-related problems in the region, he said due to various problems and limitations, the land commission has not so far been able to work properly.
The post of chairman of the land commission fell vacant recently and the government is going to fill the vacancy soon. "The government will take effective measures to recast the land commission to make it functional," he said.
The CA said all have to work unitedly on the basis of mutual trust and confidence regarding land-related matters.
Referring to various measures for the development of the CHT, he said the amount of annual allocation for the CHT has been increased after the peace accord.
The CA mentioned various development projects of the development partners for the development of this region, including the schemes undertaken by ADB, UNDP and Unicef.
On education, he stressed the need for establishing boarding schools at a greater rate in the hilly region to spread education and increase the literacy rate.
Referring to the recent infestation of rats in some upazilas of Rangamati and Bandarban, he assured the affected people of government steps to compensate them.
He put emphasis on further expansion of solar electricity in the CHT region. In this regard, the CA mentioned activities of the state-owned Infrastructure Development Company's project work in remote hilly areas for providing solar electricity.
On tourism, he said it is possible to build world-class tourist centres in the panoramic CHT region.
He said the government would take all possible measures for the development of tourism in this area and ask the tourism ministry to soon prepare a comprehensive report consulting private sector in this regard.
On food-processing industry, he said the government would take all possible steps to create a favourable environment so that the private sector can come forward to invest in this sector.