Lama (Bandarban), CHT News
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Meridian Company has been accused of attempting to
occupy land belonging to members of the Mro Indigenous community in Sarai Union
of Lama Upazila, Bandarban.
The allegation comes amid a longstanding land dispute
in the area, where Lama Rubber Industries Company has previously been accused
of occupying large areas of land traditionally used and possessed by Mro
villagers and allegedly continuing efforts to take control of additional land.
According to local sources, employees of Meridian
Company went to land belonging to Langkom Mro on Tuesday morning, August 25,
and began planting rubber saplings. Police were informed and later went to the
site, temporarily stopping the planting.
Earlier, in late April this year, Meridian Company was
also accused of cutting down approximately 1,000 banana plants cultivated by
Langkom Mro.
Langkom Mro is the karbari (village head) of Langkom
Para in Sarai Union. The village was named after him and currently has 15
families.
Langkom Mro said that in 2013, a manager named Wasim
from Meridian Company obtained permission from his father to plant jackfruit
saplings on the land.
“At the time, the company manager said they would take the jackfruits once the trees matured and produced fruit, and that after the trees were cut down, we would get our land back,” Langkom Mro said.
He said the company later cut down the jackfruit
trees, while his father died in 2014. Since then, he and other villagers have
cultivated banana plants and various fruit trees on the land, which they have
continued to possess and use.
“We had no problems for all these years. Now Meridian
Company is claiming that it purchased the land and has brought workers there to
plant rubber saplings,” he said.
According to Langkom Mro, employees of Meridian
Company also cut down banana plants, pineapple saplings and papaya trees
cultivated by villagers in July last year. A farm house on the land was also
allegedly demolished.
He said a complaint was filed with the police over the
incident, but no resolution was reached.
Akhtar Zaman, manager of Lama Meridian Agro Limited,
denied the allegations of attempted land occupation.
He said the land had been purchased by the company a
long time ago and that it had a rubber plantation there.
“Langkom Mro has built a house on the land and is
trying to use it forcibly,” Zaman said.
PREVIOUS LAND DISPUTE
The latest allegation is linked to a longstanding land
dispute involving Mro and Tripura communities in the area.
In 2022, approximately 400 acres of jum cultivation
land traditionally used and possessed by Mro and Tripura villagers in three
settlements, including Langkom Mro Para, were allegedly burned by Lama Rubber
Industries Company Limited.
Following the incident, residents of Langkom Mro Para
and two other settlements reportedly faced a food shortage for around three
months. The villagers, who depended on the land and surrounding forests for
their livelihoods, subsequently organised various programmes alleging that the
jum land had been burned as part of an attempt to evict them from their
settlements.
Several organisations also staged protests against the
alleged destruction.
Later, in the early hours of January 1, 2023, the
homes of Mro villagers were allegedly set on fire by individuals reportedly
acting at the behest of the rubber company.
Other alleged incidents included poisoning the stream
that served as the community's only source of drinking water, attacking and
vandalising a Buddhist monastery, destroying crops and harassing villagers
through what they described as false criminal cases.
Against this backdrop, on April 26, 2023, a delegation
from Subcommittee No. 2 of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry
of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, led by ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, then a
member of parliament from Chattogram-6, visited the area. A delegation from the
National Human Rights Commission also inspected the site.
However, no permanent resolution has been reached to
date.
Langkom Mro and other Mro and Tripura villagers remain accused in several cases filed by the rubber company. Several people, including Langkom Mro and Rengyen Mro, have also reportedly been imprisoned in connection with those cases.
The site where Meridian Company has now allegedly
begun planting rubber saplings lies adjacent to the same 400-acre jum land
involved in the earlier dispute. Langkom Mro and residents of his village are
again among those affected.
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