Hill Voice, 28 July 2020, Khagrachhari:  It has been alleged that BGB and settler Bengalis cut down a banana trees planted by Deba Ranjan Tripura at Moratila in Panchhari upazila of Khagrachhari district.

It is learnt that on 26 July 2020 Sunday at 10:00 am, a group of BGB members led by the commander of the BGB Jharna Tila camp and the Bengali settlers led by Abdul Motaleb (fish trader) cut and uprooted the banana plantation belonging to Deba Ranjan Tripura.

It may be mentioned that at the end of last month, Md. Anwar and Md. Abdul Motaleb gang cut down teak plantation of Deba Ranjan Tripura, a resident of Padmini Para of Maratila five years ago and planted mango saplings on his 5.0 acres of land.

In protest, on 01 July 2020, local Jumma people organised protest and demanded legal action against the occupiers.

But as the administration did not take any action in this regard, Deba Ranjan Tripura replanted banana trees on his land. This time the settlers, in collaboration with the BGB, also cut down his planted banana trees.

Locals said that apart from Deba Ranjan Tripura, the Bengali settlers have already occupied hundreds of acres of Jum land of Jumma people in the Moratila area.

Locals have also complained that the administration has always sided with the settlers, which encouraged the settlers to grab more land of Jumma people.

Source: chtnews