Banning jhum for road in Rangamati: Rally held condemning move

A ban on Jhum cultivation for the constructing a road by local administration has left hundreds of indigenous people living two villages of Rangamati worried about their livelihood, said activists at a rally today.

A group of activists from several student organisations, who are in favour of the implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, organised the protest rally in front of the National Museum at the capital's Shahbagh, reports our DU corrrespondent.

Speaking at the rally, Bangladesh Marma Students Council's General Secretary Aung Shwe Singh Marma said that people of Gachabagan and Thumpara rely on Jhum cultivation to survive.

"If they are not allowed jhum cultivation -- which produces turmeric, and ginger -- then we can imagine how that will affect their living standard," Aung said.

Saying that they are not against development and tourism, he said, "If we are evicted in the name of development and tourism, we are against them."

He demanded the immediate implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Settlement Commission and land management should be handed over to the district council as per the peace accord.

Jahangir Alam Nannu, general secretary of Bangladesh Jubo Union, said development should be people-friendly.

"We will not allow business groups to loot us and the government to support them in doing so," he added.

After the rally, a procession started from Shahbagh and ended at Raju Sculpture at Dhaka University.

From the rally, the protesters placed an eight-point demand, including stopping the eviction of indigenous people in the name of tourism, putting an end to land grabbing, ensuring the safety of the villagers, and withdrawing the eviction order of the villagers from their land.

The other demands include not establishing tourism centres adjacent to indigenous villages, not barring them from jhum cultivation, providing compensation to the families affected by the construction of the road, and handing over the tourism sector to the district council as per the CHT Peace Accord.