Government must protect indigenous community and their heritage
17 May 2022
Kuakata,
the country's second-largest sea beach, is being turned into a tourist
destination without a structured plan, kicking out the native Rakhine
population in the process. Influential people are building different
structures, grabbing the indigenous population's living space, temples,
and even burial grounds. Rakhines have lost 70 per cent of their burial
grounds and 50 per cent of temples in the past three decades. Protecting
the life of the low-income indigenous community and their heritage is
the responsibility of the government.
Kuakata was announced as a
tourist spot in 1998. The authorities said the Prime Minister's Office
(PMO) approved a master plan in 2013, but they couldn't start its
implementation till now. The Housing and Public Works Ministry formed a
five-member Patuakhali Development Authority in 2011. The ministry
issued another gazette in 2016, forming a nine-member committee headed
by the divisional commissioner of Barishal. It said this committee will
approve all the establishments and land-related issues in those areas.
There
are at least 123 hotels, 3,000 business establishments, and over 3,000
residences built since 2010. According to the Integrated Community
Development Project (ICDP), working for land, education, and cultural
rights of the Rakhines since 2007, only 22 burial grounds remained
intact in 39 Rakhine villages in Patuakhali and Barguna. The rest are
either grabbed or encroached. At least a dozen villages do not have any
burial ground at all. Only 20 of the 39 Rakhine villages have their
temples while the rest 19 villages lost theirs.
It is the government
and district administration's responsibility to protect the area from
encroachment and grabbing by profit mongers. Globally when protecting
indigenous rights and places for tourist attractions become popular, our
mindless profit mongers erect structures demolishing indigenous life
and livelihood. The rights campaigners and local businesses should work
in a coordinated manner thus interests of all quarters are protected and
tourism thrived there sustainably.
