As many as 1,196 more Rohingya refugees are being relocated to Bhasan Char from the camps at Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya.
A total of 20 buses carrying the displaced Myanmar nationals started for Chittagong on Tuesday, confirmed Cox’s Bazar Armed Police Battalion-14 chief Naimul Haque.
They are scheduled to reach Bhasan Char on a Navy ship on Wednesday.
Nearly 24,000 Rohingyas have so far been relocated to Bhasan Char, an island near Hatia, dedicated to host some 100,000 people.
The government started relocating the Rohingyas to the island in 2020 despite reservations from the international community and the Rohingyas themselves. Later, members of the UN agencies visited the facilities and expressed satisfaction.
On October 9, 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed an agreement with the Bangladesh government to engage in relief efforts at Bhasan Char.
Bangladesh currently hosts 1.1 million Rohingyas, who had fled an ethnic cleansing from the Myanmar military in 2017, in the camps at Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya and Kutupalong.
At Bhasan Char, the government has set up an infrastructure of 120 cluster villages sprawling the 13,000 acre island at a cost of over Tk23 billion to accommodate the Rohingya population before their safe repatriation.
