Shifting of 1,642 Rohingyas from Chattogram to Bhasan Char starts
Staff Correspondent
Naval vessels have started shifting of a total of 1,642 Rohingyas from Chattogram to Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal under Hatiya upazila of Noakhali.
They are going to Bhasan Char on seven vessels at 9:00am while two other vessels are carrying goods, Lt Commander MK Zaman Shamim told The Daily Star.
The Rohingyas were boarded on a vessel to take them from Chattogram to Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal under Hatiya upazila of Noakhali. Photo: Mohammad Al-Masum Molla
He said two vessels, two defender boats and four country boats are scouting the caravan.
Naval vessels Shah Paran and Shah Makhdum carrying 1,019 luggage reached Bhasan Char yesterday.
Earlier on Thursday, the Rohingyas reached Chattogram from Cox's Bazar, where they have been staying since 2017. They stayed overnight at BF base Zahur in Chattogram.
The Navy has prepared the Tk 3,100 crore housing project, funded with public money, after some 750,000 Rohingyas fled a brutal military campaign in Myanmar's Rakhine state and took shelter in Cox's Bazar in the months following August 2017.
A total of 1,642 Rohingyas have started from Chattogram to Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal, on Friday morning. Photo: Mohammad Al-Masum Molla
They joined some 300,000 other Rohingyas, who had fled previous waves of violence in Rakhine.
The UN and various rights groups alleged that they have limited information about what has been going on and that the government has yet to allow a technical team to assess the feasibility of the housing project in Bhasan Char.
