Govt Decides to Boost Surveillance of Rohingya Refugees in Bhashanchar

Officials said the government has decided to strengthen supervision of Rohingya refugees housed in cluster homes in Bhashan Char in order to prevent them from escaping and illicit drug peddling.

Between May 8 and June 22, 52 Rohingya people escaped their homes in the Bhasan Char cluster, while 38 were apprehended while attempting to flee. 

Recent newspaper reports said the Rohingya refugees were managed to elude the tight observation of Bangladesh Navy personnel, police, and Ansars (para-police) forces assigned by the Bangladeshi government's Disaster Management Ministry.

A report said some of the Rohingya members have alleged that the government are not feeding them properly.

An official of the Finance Division said the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief has solicited funds to further intensify the surveillance.

The funds would be used to pay the salaries of the extra para-police officers. A total of 50 Ansar members have been hired to keep a careful eye on the cluster village's boundaries. Officials stated that more members would be recruited soon.

Newspaper reports said most of the run-away refugees are collecting Bangladeshi passports and flying to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries. They are also involved in illicit Methamphetamine (Yaba tablet) peddling.

The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief wants Finance Ministry to disburse Tk 4.50 crore to pay the salaries of the Ansar members who are already deployed there.

The government has allocated Tk 100 crore in the fiscal budget for 2021-22 to carry out relief operations in the country. The Disaster Management Ministry has sought funds from this allocation.

The Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Md Mohsin said, "It is not true that Rohingyas are starving. We are providing them food and they have adequate food entitlements.”

The Ministry has been maintaining a food warehouse for the refugees of Bhasan Char since December last year, he said.

Mohsin said, "Rohingya members are not running away from Bhasan Char because of food crisis. It’s a separate incident."

Mohammad Khurshid Alam Khan, the Deputy Commission of Noakhali district, admitted that some refugees may have been able to flee the island, but that none were able to escape from the satellite facility in July.

He said: “We have intensified our monitoring and that their livelihood have been made better.”

Alam said some 200 police members were deployed to look after refugee movements and keep them within the cluster village.

The Secretary to Disaster Management Ministry said the government had organised slaughtering of bulls in Bhasan Char more generously than what they did in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps during the recent Eid-ul-Azha festival.

He said there are numerous charitable programs taking place in Bhashan Char. One such program is run by leading fashion brand Kay Kraft, which teaches some refugee women how to sew and embroider.

The government has relocated nearly 20,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, a remote island in the Bay of Bengal, since December 2020.

Humanitarian workers had anticipated that inadequate storm and flood protection would put those individuals in grave danger prior to the monsoon.

Bangladesh Navy built Bhashan Char at a cost of around Tk 3,100 crore to move a little over 100,000 Rohingya refugees from overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar.