The fourth phase of Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char is underway as another batch of around 3000 forcibly displaced Myanmar Nationals are being transported today (Monday) to the island.
Earlier on Sunday, some 2,014 Rohingyas (477 families) were taken to Chattogram from Cox’s Bazar camps while some 800 Rohingyas are being taken to Chattogram today.
Meanwhile, Navy ships, carrying around 800 Rohingyas, left Chattogram for Bhasan Char today morning while others are waiting in line.
Shamsuddoza Nayan, additional commissioner at the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission in Cox’ Bazar, confirmed the matter.
He said around 3,000 Rohingyas have agreed to relocate to Bhasan Char voluntarily.
The Rohingyas were brought to Chattogram by bus from Ukhia Degree College and Ghumdum transit camps in several phases, he said, adding that they will be taken to the river island from there.
In the first three phases, around 11,000 Rohingyas were relocated to the river island.
Bangladesh Navy had built shelters in Bhasan Char, a remote island in Bay of Bengal measuring 13,000 acres, for at least 100,000 Rohingyas as well as a three-metre embankment to prevent flooding.
Almost a million Rohingyas have been sheltered in various makeshift camps in the south-eastern districts of Bangladesh. Most of them fled to Bangladesh following a military offensive in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017.
(Source: Online Desk)
