Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing has urged different development partners to beef up their efforts to assist the government in improving the hill people's living standards.
Addressing a views-exchange meeting with a UN delegation at his ministry on Wednesday, Ushwe Sing praised the ongoing activities of the international agencies and said that more needed to be done.
He mentioned the contribution of the UNDP-supported Strengthening Inclusive Development in CHT (SID-CHT) in solving water crisis in remote areas by setting up solar power-based safe water supply facilities. Initially, this program has been implemented in only 10 upazilas of three hill districts, but it should be replicated in 26 upazilas.
UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis led the delegation. Other members were Ambassador and Head of EU Delegation Charles Whiteley, British High Commissioner Robert Chatterton Dickson, Ambassador of Norway EspenRikter-Svendsen, FAO Country Representative Robert Simpson, Unicef Chief of Field Office Madhuri Banerjee and UNDP Assistant Resident Representative (ARR) Prasenjit Chakma.
CHT Affairs Secretary Mosammat Hamida Begum, other high officials from the ministry, and a representative from the Foreign Ministry were also present at the meeting.
Secretary Hamida Begum said the three Hill Districts account for 10% of the country's total area and 1% of the total population, and addressing various problems of the hill people was the government's priority. So, the development partners should come forward to help achieve sustainable development in the region.
The UN delegation members visited the CHT region recently and spoke to officials of the Hill District Councils and other government bodies while visiting the project areas.
They told the minister on Wednesday that the government should take steps to hold the Hill District Council elections and resolve the land disputes at the soonest.
The delegation members also suggested that development works be expanded to remote areas,where women are the most vulnerable group. Moreover, projects should be undertaken to address climate change, deforestation, and loss of soil erisionand water scarcity.
On climate change, the minister said about 44% of the total forest area of the country is located in the CHT, but currently, due to deforestation, climate change and various other reasons, a large part of the hilly area has become deforested. Among the 64 districts of Bangladesh, Bandarban ranks second, Rangamati fourth and Khagrachari seventh among the most vulnerable districts to climate change.
He also praised the UNDP and Unicef for improving the quality of education in the CHT regions for a long time. Now it is necessary to take up projects to construct residential hostels at union and upazila levels, arrange adequate scholarships for higher degrees in the country and abroad, and set up multimedia classrooms everywhere.
Moreover, to turn the CHT youths into skilled manpower, various training including nursing, mobile servicing, hotel management, tourist guide management, driving and repairing can be arranged simultaneously.
Ushwe Sing said the UNDP has trained 97,500 farmers in the CHT and established 135 Market Collection Centres through the SID-CHT project. The UNDP and FAO can play a more effective role in developing the agricultural system.
He also urged the development partners to play an effective role through resource mobilization in achieving the targets of the SDGs, including poverty alleviation and women empowerment.
