Stand somewhere! Dunes somewhere! Rows of houses at the top and at the foot of these hills. Looking at the hills of Chattogram, this scene will be visible. Every year, many people living in those houses lost their lives due to landslides. After the loss of life, the administration began to struggle. People were evacuated from dangerous hills. But when the rain stopped, those people again built a base on that mountain.
Then it rains again! Disaster comes and "kills" people!
According to the district administration, about 30 thousand people of 6558 families are playing with their lives on 26 hills of Chattogram. Out of these 16 hills belong to government agencies. The remaining 10 hills are privately owned.
How many inhabitants in a hill?
Out of the 26 hills, seven hills are owned by Railway (East) Chattogram. Among those hills, 12 at the foot of the hill adjacent to Polytechnic Halt Station, 5 at the foot of the hill adjacent to Fauji Flower Mill in the Cantonment area, 74 at the foot of the hill adjacent to Sholashar Station, 4476 in the hill adjacent to Jhil No. 1, 2, 3 in the Foys Lake area, Motijharna and Batali Hill. 4031 families, 46 families in hills adjacent to Environment Department, 288 families in Vijay Nagar Hills adjacent to Lake City residential area are living at risk.
88 families are living in the hills of Batali Hill and Motijharna area owned by Public Works Division-3. 49 and 146 families are living at the foot of the two hills owned by the National Housing Authority, the hill adjacent to Feroz Shah Housing Estate and the hill adjacent to Kaibalyadham Housing Estate respectively.
28 families are living at risk in 150 dag hill (adjacent to Jayantika residential), 12 in BS 212 and 213 dag hill (adjacent to garden view society via chicken farm) and 89 families in Akbar Shah Beltali hill of three hills belonging to No. 1 Khas Khatian.
On the other hand, 43 families are living in the hill adjacent to Polytechnic College under AP (abandoned property) and 323 families are living in the hill adjacent to Lalkhanbazar Jamiatul Uloom Madrasah under VP (vested property).
Among the remaining 10 privately owned hills, 144 in Harun Khan Saheb's hill, 12 in the hill of Nachiaghona area, 28 in the hill behind the zoo, 29 in Madhushah hill, 5 in the hill near Jalalabad, 25 in Nagin hill, 38 in Mir Mohammad Hasan's hill near Forest Research Institute, 42 in MR Siddiqui's hill, 49 families in Miar Hills and 11 in Bhera Fakir Hills (Raufabad, Oxygen) are living at risk.
When the monsoons come, it's a mess
On June 11, 2007, 127 people died in a terrible landslide in Chattogram city. Among them, 11 people died in Motijharna area of Lalkhanbazar ward. After that terrible incident, the hill management committee was 'born'. The responsibility of the hill management committee was to implement the 36-point recommendations given by the expert committee. Notable among these were - stopping hill cutting and evacuating vulnerable settlements. However, there are complaints that the management committee meets only when the monsoon comes and resolves the liability.
Every year since 2007, before the monsoon, the hill management committee meeting decided to cut off the electricity, water and gas connections and stop the eviction and hill cutting. According to that decision some work is also done. But then the hill management committee went into a long sleep! And on this occasion, new settlements were made in the hills.
Some dishonest officials-employees of Chattogram WASA, Chattogram Power Development Board and Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Corporation cooperated in that work. They are the ones who deliver water, electricity and gas to dangerous hills in exchange for bribes. And most of these hills are controlled by councilors and local influentials. As a result, the administration cannot evict those living at risk even if it wants to.
Now, the hill management committee is shaken again by the death due to landslides in different parts of the country during the monsoon season.
In the Hill Management Committee meeting held on Thursday (June 20), it has been ordered to disconnect all the illegal water, electricity and gas connections in the hills within the next 15 days.
However, some visible work has been done, said Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Abul Basar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, one of the members of the hill management committee.
In the hill management committee meeting, he said, 'We have hung signboards on 26 hills of Chattogram city. 10 acres of Khas land has been recovered by evicting the illegal occupants from the hills.
In the last one year, 51 raids have been conducted in the metropolis alone. 11 families have been evicted from there. In the future too, initiatives will be taken to move the people living in the mountains at risk.