United News of Bangladesh

Four ethnic community people were killed and two others injured after a pickup carrying passengers overturned on Rangamati-Khagrachhari highway in Rangamati Sadar upazila early Sunday. The deceased were identified as Meghrani Chakma, 45, Shantana Chakma, 38, Shobha Chakma, 52, and Shanti Ranjan Chakma, 65. The injured- Gyan Bikash Chakma, 50, and Sumon Chakma, 45- were admitted to the hospital in critical condition. The pickup was carrying passengers from Rangamati town to Kutukchhari Bazar when its driver lost control in front of Manikchhari Army Camp around 5:30am, witnesses said. The vehicle veered off the road and overturned in front of Manikchhari Army Camp while going to Kutukchhari Bazar from the town around 5:30am, leaving several passengers trapped inside. With help from local residents, police and army personnel rescued the victims and took them to Rangamati General Hospital. Doctors initially declared three people dead, while another victim succumbed to injuries later. SI Khokon Kanti Rudra, in-charge of the Manikchhari Police Camp under Rangamati Kotwali Police Station said police recovered the bodies and arranged immediate medical treatment for the injured. Legal proceedings are underway, the police official added.

The ethnic Tripura community of Sonaichhari in Sitakunda upazila, Chattogram are in constant fear as some local influential people have allegedly been trying to evict them from their century-old land. Tripuras live in different areas of Bangladesh, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Sitakunda and Mirsarai upazilas of Chittagong, Bilonia upazila of Noakhali district, and Cumilla, Chandpur, Moulavibazar, Srimangol, Rajbari and in Faridpur and Dhaka districts. The indigenous inhabitants of Tripura Para at Sonaichhari alleged that Abul Khayer Group, a Chattogram-based business conglomerate, is trying to grab their land illegally.  Read: Army delivers relief to ethnic minority groups in Bandarban The Tripura community members are passing their days in fear of eviction from their 150-year-old land as the influential people of Abul Khayer Group have long been asking them to leave the place. They are receiving threats from some local influential people backed by Abul Khayer Group and land grabbers, they alleged. The land grabbers are now engaged in fencing the whole Tripura Para hill, said the residents.