1,772 Rohingyas are going to Bhasan Char Today

Rohingyas under the second batch are going to the island in Noakhali voluntarily from Cox’s Bazar camps to to Bhasan Char on Tuesday.

The authorities will shift 1,772 Rohingyas from 427 families to the island, according to a competent source.

Earlier, on December 4, a total of 1,642 Rohingyas moved from Chattogram to Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal under Hatiya upazila of Noakhali.

The Rohingyas, who were interested to go to Bhasan Char, have been brought at Ukhiya College ground by minibuses on Monday from different camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf.

They were later provided with food amid the presence of the police and medical team. RAB, police and law enforcement agencies were seen providing tight security.

However, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner’s Office have not officially commented on how many Rohingyas are being taken to Bhasan Char in buses.

A total of 13 buses moved from Ukhiya Degree College field at around 11:30 am. More buses were scheduled to be leaving Monday night with Rohingyas, according to multiple sources.

They will be taken to Bhasan Char in Noakhali by Navy Ships Tuesday morning, Lt Tanzim, project engineer of Ashrayan-3 Project in Bhasan Char island, told daily sun.

Amid criticism by international community over the relocation of Rohingyas to Bhasan Char, the first batch of Rohingyas registered their footsteps in Bhasan Char a few weeks ago.

Two years ago, the government planned to relocate a portion of the 1.1 million Rohingyas living in and outside the Cox’s Bazar camp to Bhasan Char on the Meghna estuary near Hatiya.

With the government’s own funding at a cost of Tk 3,100 crore, 1,440 cluster houses and 120 shelter houses, four-storey buildings have been built on the char to accommodate more than one lakh people.

In September, a total of 40 Rohingya leaders, including two women, went to Bhasan Char to see facilities there.

The delegation primarily expressed their satisfaction over the facilities in Bhasan Char.

Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.1 million Rohingyas in camps in Cox’s Bazar district. Most of them fled to Bangladesh in late August 2017 when the Myanmar army and their local collaborators launched a brutal offensive targeting them.