Hill Voice, 18 November 2020, Dhaka: A human chain has been held in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on the initiative of ‘Pran-Prakriti Suraksha Mancha’ (a life & nature related platform) to demand an end to land grabbing and eviction of Mro people in Bandarban in the name of commercial development.

Yesterday, on November 18, 2020 at 11:00 am the human chain held in front of the National Press Club was moderated by Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua and addressed by member of Rastra Chinta Anwar Hossain, environment conservation & social activist Mizanur Rahman, adviser of ‘Pran-Prakriti Suraksha Mancha’ Samsher Ali and Hill Women’s Federation’s former central general secretary and human rights activist Ilira Dewan among others.

Speakers at the human chain said the army and Sikder group have started building tourism and Hotel Marriott by force where local Mro residents do not want tourism, which is totally illegal and nothing more than a conspiracy to evict indigenous Mro people. Where there is no good school, there are not enough facilities for education, then, for whom is this hotel-tourism for? For whose interest? Basically, the locals have no profit here except loss. The army and the Sikder group will benefit only.

The speakers further said that many places including Sajek have been occupied in the name of tourism establishment and development before. But on the contrary, the locals have been compelled to migrate to other places. Therefore, the project to build a five-star hotel and tourist facility in the heart of Chimbuk will have to be stopped soon.