RANGAMATI, April 23, 2018 (BSS) – Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya today said the people living on the hill slopes should be shifted to safe places soon aiming to protect them from possible landslides during the upcoming monsoon.
“The tasks of shifting the dwellers living in the risky hilly areas have to be completed soon by forming a district level committee in coordination with all agencies concerned,” he said while addressing a workshop on ‘hill- slide and pre-cautionary awareness programme’.
Rangamati district administration organised the workshop at cultural centre for ethnic minorities in the district, an official release said.
Chaired by deputy commissioner of Rangamati AKM Mamunur Rashid, the workshop was addressed, among others, by Disaster Management and Relief secretary Md Shah Kamal, former state minister Dipankar Talukdar, brigade commander of Rangamati 305 Brigade Golam Faruq and chairman of Rangamati Hill District Council Brishaketu Chakma.
Additional secretary of the ministry Md Mohsin presented a keynote paper at the workshop.
Speaking as the chief guest, Maya said the hill management should be modernised and it is the state’s responsibility to relocate the hill dwellers living on the risky slopes to safe places.
Recalling the deadly landslides that took place in the hilly districts last year, he said the government does not want to see further loss of any life in hill-slides.
Reading out his keynote paper, Mohsin said the deadly landslides were triggered by incessant rainfall in Rangamati in 2017, which claimed the lives of 120 people.
He said unplanned settlements in the hills, hill-cutting, deforestation and lack of drainage system lead to the landslides in the hilly region.
Mohsin stressed the need for taking a coordinated hill management policy, forecasting weather data accurately and applying modern technology and strategies in hill management.
Earlier, the district administration in association with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief brought out a procession from Pourasabha office premises aiming to make the hilly dwellers aware of the consequences of landslides.