Residents of Saint Martin, a small Island in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, have been suffering a lot due to manifold reasons.
Everyday thousands of people from home and abroad come to the tourist island to enjoy its natural beauty and return with fresh mind. But nobody thinks the suffering of the people of the island, alleged locals.
Over 10,000 people in the island have to face crisis in many sectors, including transport and communication, health, education, electricity and banking system.
According to sources, the communication system in the island has been lying in sorry state for a long time.
One can go to the island from Teknaf in three hours by launch but now he has to spend more than four hours by wooden-boat due to shortage of launch. Though there are some speedboats, it cannot be operated in rainy season.
Beside the shortage of water vehicles, the travelers suffer the hassle of extortion. Tk5 to Tk45 is taken from a person as extortion when they carry goods. Sometimes the extortion is so high that it exceeds the value of the goods.
Locals demand extortion free transport system in the area. They also urged the government to establish modern transportation system immediately.
There is only one health complex in the island. Locals call it ‘cattle shed’ as there is no doctor and people use it for their domestic work.
Though an MBBS doctor had been appointed once upon a time, the people did not find his footfall in the region, said an island man.
Due to lack of physicians, the people in the region have to suffer from many diseases and sometimes many of them die. As the communication system is not good at all, a serious patient cannot be taken to the hospital in town easily. The only power house in the tourist island has been lying in rundown situation for 17 years.
Sources said the power house was built up many years before. In 1999 it was damaged and became in operative after a violent storm hit it. Afterwords, no body came to repair it.
The residents are deprived of the benefit of freeze, television, computer and many other electronic machines due to lack of electricity. Even they cannot charge their mobile phones for want of electricity.
Though some generators are operated locally, it is for tourist cottage. Commoners do not get its benefit.
People are far away from the ray of education as there is no educational institution except a govt school.
There are only two teachers for 560 students in the state run St Martin Govt Primary School.
St Martin people do not get banking facilities as there is no any branch of bank. They cannot do business for lack of bank. They blamed local MP and upazila chairman and administration for this. Some locals built brick-made house in the region defying the law which is threat to the environment of the island.
St Martin Adarsha Sngsad President Helal Uddin Sagor said: “St Martin is an international standered tourist spot.”
St Martin Students’ Forum President Tayub Ali Khan said: “The government collects a lot revenue from the tourist spot but it does think to develop the structure of the land.”
Local Awami League president Mujibur Rahman said: “Though I am the govt party man, I am to admit that the government has not taken steps to develop the island.”
Deputy Commissioner Ali Hossain said: “Recently I have visited the area. I have found the poor condition of the island.”
He urged the journalists to write on the situation more and more that will help him to do the work for the tourist island, the DC added.