Tk 1 crore loss per day in Sajek even during peak season
Collected Photo
Rangamati's tourist destination "Sajek Valley" remains paralyzed due to a dominance-related dispute. Tourist movement has been halted due to a month-long blockade. As a result, resort, restaurant, and vehicle owners in Sajek are sitting idle during the tourism season. The small-scale income of local residents centering the tourist spot has also been ruined. Altogether, the loss amounts to at least one crore taka per day. There is no indication of when the situation will normalize. No one is able to say anything either.
When asked whether there are any new efforts for a solution, Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Nazma Ashrafi said, "The situation has not yet normalized. We went (to Sajek) with the MPs of Khagrachhari and Rangamati. Please speak to the MPs." Rangamati MP Dipen Dewan told Agamir Somoy, "One side withdraws the blockade, the other does not. It continues like this. However, it seems that situation have eased somewhat compared to previous weeks."
Perhaps with more time it will gradually be resolved. Although I do not know the updates. The protesters had various demands. Some were somewhat unrealistic. We are not in favor of any armed group. Law enforcement agencies will look into it."
Two organizations—the Sajek Gano-odhikar Raksha Committee backed by the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) and the Sajek Karbari Association—suddenly called a road blockade in Sajek on October 11. In mid-October, they suspended the blockade for a few days on the occasion of Durga Puja. But after Puja, they again called an indefinite blockade. Although on November 10, Sajek's Karbari Notun Joy Chakma announced in a video message the withdrawal of the ongoing indefinite blockade in Sajek. However, the Gano-odhikar Raksha Committee did not agree with the withdrawal announcement. They decided to continue the blockade.
Solution efforts stalled
On October 25, a meeting was held in Rangamati in the presence of the two MPs of Rangamati and Khagrachhari, Dipen Dewan and Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, respectively. The meeting formed a mediation committee comprising three headmen. The committee's task was to establish communication between the administration and the protesters. But on October 26, the two MPs and administration officials went to the Ujobazar area and spoke with the protesters. Shanti Bijoy Chakma, a member of the three-member headmen committee, told Agamir Somoy, "We had spoken with the Bagaichhari Upazila Nirbahi Officer. Meanwhile, the two MPs and the administration spoke with the protesters at that time. We had no role since then."
No significant steps are being taken from the administration's side either. The matter has largely been left to time. The administration believes the situation will gradually normalize.
Loss amounts to one crore taka a day
About 150 cottages in Sajek are now devoid of tourists. Besides cottages there are restaurants, transports, water and drinks, and various other businesses operate around this place. Many people's livelihoods now depend on this. It is learned as this correspondent talked to the Cottage Owners Association that the cottages are incurring a loss of Tk 20 lakh per day.
Many local residents' incomes now depend on Sajek tourism valley. They sell vegetables from their fields, fruits, handicrafts, clothing, and many other items to tourists. This business is now completely halted.
Suparna Deb Barman, President of the Cottage Owners' Association and a member of the Rangamati District Council, said, "The blockade is still ongoing. The cottage sector does business worth Tk 20 lakh per day. Besides, there is the water business, local vegetables, fruits, chickens, rice, etc. A large business is done in the transport sector. Altogether, business worth Tk 1 crore is conducted per day. Now it is a tourism season. We have to sit idle during this season. We want the deadlock to be resolved."
Ayush Shanti Chakma, President of the Parbatya Transport Association Khagrachhari, said that during the season, an average of 300 to 400 vehicles travel to and from Sajek daily. Due to being closed for a month, their income has stopped.
