Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government planned to shift the Rohingya refugee camp from Kutubpalang and Nayaparha of Cox’s Bazar to a new location.
But the premier did not disclose the new location. “It will be shifted for the sake of developing beach area suited to tourism.”
Sheikh Hasina said this at a meeting with the officials of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry yesterday.
The official data put the number of Rohingya refugees at 34,000 while the unofficial figure says it is in between 200,000 to 300,000.
The prime minister in the meeting said the government was going to set up six thousand cyclone centers in the areas across the country prone to natural disasters.
Bangladesh has repeatedly proved its capacity for fighting natural disasters. The government has also built a modern storage center to preserve cereal for 2 to 3 years with the assistance of Japan government.
The government is going to export six thousand tonnes of rice from Sri Lanka very soon, she added.
The prime minister asked the ministry to put its all-out effort to help rehabilitate the families affected in recent flood in the northern parts of the country.
The government has already bought fire fighting equipment, she told the meeting adding that she had a plan to set up fire station in each district.
Hasina stressed the role of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief as the country is prone to disaster.
“Bangabandhu established a separate relief ministry after independence out of his experience to distribute relief in remote areas of the country after the 1970 cyclone.
Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Secretary of the ministry Mesbah Ul Alam and officials of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) were present at the meeting.
