chtnews.com
News No. 100/2014,
Monday, October 20, 2014
THE government
of Bangladesh is reported to be mulling over a plan to construct a
hydroelectric dam over the Nakrai river in Guimara, Khagrachari, leaving the
residents of a vast area worrying about the prospect of being evicted from
their ancestral homesteads.
According to local
sources and a Jumma blog, the dam is proposed to be built over the river Nakrai,
which lies about 7 kilometers from Guimara Sadar and flowing between two Mouzas
– Boroitoli 212 and Nakrai 228.
The project is
reportedly being finalized in a hurried manner behind the scenes.
A report in chtbd.org said
neither the public representatives nor the concerned village chiefs were
consulted about the project. Even the Mong chief is not aware of the matter, it
added.
According to the
report, on 13 September, the army visited the project site at Nakrai-chara and
took photographs of the whole area.
On September 25, they
held a secret meeting about the project at Guimara brigade where no Jumma
representative was invited.
Earlier, in 2012, the
AC Land of Ramgarh Upazila and Kongjori Marma, the Headman of the Mouza under
which the project site lies, had visited the area to select the site of the
dam.
The chtbd quoted
Probesh Karbari as saying that three sites have been selected primarily for the
construction of the dam and that it would be constructed in the downstream.
Kongjori Marma
(Headman) assured that those to be affected by the dam would be compensated
appropriately.
However, Probesh
Karbari (village chief) said they would not accept compensation and that they
would continue to live in their ancestral land, implying they would resist the
project.
The Jumma blog quoted
Kongjori Marma as saying that “the survey of the area is complete. Now is the
turn of the technicians and engineers to begin their job.”
The Jumma villagers
think that the purpose of the dam is to facilitate infiltration of illegal
Bengali settlers in their area.
“After the dam is
built, an army camp will have to be set up to protect it, and along with the
army camp will come Bengali settlers. Therefore, there is no need for a dam
here. We are very much happy with solar energy.” they said.
According to the
villagers, in 2009 – 10, the government had made attempts to rehabilitate
Bengali settlers in the area, but they failed when the Jumma people resisted.
Having failed to
implant the settlers directly, the government, especially the army, is now
trying to achieve its aim in a roundabout way, which is the construction of the
dam, a seemingly innocuous project with devastating impact on the lives of the
Jumma people.
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