Rohingya villages springing up without prohibition

An unauthorised Rohingya village set up on the bank of river Shankha in Betchhara area in Bandarban taking advantage of the lack of monitoring by the authorities.Photo: STAR

After establishing themselves as locals in Naikkhangchhari, illegal Rohingya people are now setting up villages in the district town and sadar, Lama and Alikadam upazilas as administration remains oblivious of their presence.
Local people alleged that due to insufficient administrative initiative to check employment of illegal foreigners, the size of Rohingya inhabitation has grown bigger day by day.
Lack of administrative monitoring and easy employment have encouraged Rohingya settlement in the area. They are now infiltrating and living around the district and upazila headquarters, municipality areas, different markets and riversides, the locals said.
They told The Daily Star that not less than 30 Rohingya villages have already sprouted in Lama and Alikadam upazilas and Lama municipality areas.
"Employing Rohingyas has created an extra pressure on us while we are already facing unemployment," a local said, adding that they are losing work to Rohingyas as they can be hired for lower wages.
Sources said Rohingyas are very much interested in working in the reserve forest as woodchopper and timber merchants are employing them instead of local workers for long terms at lower payment.
Random employing of the Rohingyas has resulted in massive felling of trees in the Toin and Matamuhuri reserve forests, which has caused deforestation in the region.
Sources at the Forest Department told The Daily Star that a powerful racket of timber merchants has grown in the region with the help of terrorist groups.
However, locals alleged that staffs of the upazila administration and the Forest Department are also directly involved with this deforestation activity.
Because of the involvement of the administration, a huge number of felled trees are being cut into "joth permit", a legal shape for transit, at night, a source said.
Many said it is possible to protect the valuable forests by destroying the villages of Rohingyas and obstructing their further infiltration.
High officials at the district administration admitted the existence of the Rohingya villages but declined to make any comment.