About 2,500 Rohingyas are being relocated from the camps in Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char island in the 6th phase.
Cox's Bazar Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Shah Rezwan Hayat said 47 buses carrying the Rohingyas have reached Chattogram.
Rohingyas willing to go to Bhasan Char were brought to the temporary transit point at Ukhiya Degree College ground and given necessary items including food, water and medicine.
Rohingya Majhis (leaders) said many forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals are now willing to move to Bhasan Char after learning about the facilities and quality of life there.
Also read: Rohingya relocation: 1,778 more heading towards Bhasan Char
Cox's Bazar Additional RRRC Shamsuddoza Nayan said the Rohingyas would be taken to Bhasan Char from Patenga under the Navy’s management on Wednesday.
In five phases, over 14,000 Rohingyas were shifted to Bhasan Char.
Bangladesh is currently hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char. Most of them came here since August 25, 2017 when the Myanmar military launched a brutal offensive targeting the mainly-Muslim ethnic minority.
Where is Bhasan Char?
It surfaced 20 years ago 34 kilometres off the mainland and was never inhabited.
Bangladesh spent millions of dollars to develop Bhasan Char and plans to relocate 100,000 Rohingyas there in phases in the face of growing concerns over the extreme congestion in Cox’s Bazar camps and to avert any untoward incident.
Also read: Don’t worry about Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char: Dhaka to UNHCR
Contractors say the island’s infrastructure is like a modern township. A police station was also set up there recently.
Who are the Rohingyas?
The Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.
Members of this ethnic minority are denied citizenship by Myanmar and many are forced to live in squalid camps in apartheid-like condition. State-sponsored discrimination against the Rohingyas stretches decades back.
Also read: Don't undermine, misinterpret genuine efforts: Dhaka on Rohingya relocation
Rohingya crisis and Bangladesh
Bangladesh has long been urging the global community to take effective steps to put pressure on Myanmar to create a congenial atmosphere for Rohingya repatriation but there has been little progress so far.
The presence of the huge number of Rohingya refugees in the coastal district has put them on a collision course with the locals. Many Rohingyas have allegedly got involved in various criminal activities.