Musical, sports club inaugurated for Rohingyas in Bhasan Char
Navy Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, director of the Bhasan Char Project, inaugurated the clubs on Tuesday afternoon
As part of recreation arrangements, two separate clubs have been inaugurated for Rohingya people who have been relocated in Bhasan Char.
One is a musical club, the other is a sports club.
Navy Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, director of the Bhasan Char Project, inaugurated the clubs on Tuesday afternoon.
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He then played volleyball first and then football with the Rohingya youths.
Rohingya youths say they did not have this opportunity in Myanmar. They have not received such benefits in the last three years.
They said they were happy to get this opportunity in Bhasan Char.
Rohingya relocation
The second batch of Rohingya groups has reached Bhasan Char.
Five vessels of the Bangladesh Navy carrying 1,804 Rohingyas, including 523 women and 848 children, arrived at Bhasan Char between 1pm and 1:30pm on Tuesday.
In the first phase, on 4 December, Bangladesh relocated more than 1,642 to Bhasan Char. They were brought in vehicles from different camps a day before and kept in the transit camps of BAF Shaheen College and Boat Club in Chattogram.
Bhasan Char
Bhasan Char – located around 39km from Noakhali in an estuary of the Meghna River – was covered in a shroud of grass and mangrove trees. But now the desolate islet has taken a new look altogether with buildings painted pink.
From houses for living, solar panels for electricity, biogas fuel for cooking and waste management system, cyclone centres, mobile phone network – everything is available for its new habitants.
Bangladesh has been hosting over 11 lakh Rohingyas in congested Cox's Bazar camps. Some 1,00,000 Rohingyas will gradually be shifted to Bhasan Char, which is well-equipped with modern facilities, including schools, mosques, community clinics, mobile networks and Internet, for Rohingyas.
The whole island is mostly solar-powered with solar systems installed on rooftops of all 1,440 buildings, including 120 cyclone shelter centres.
The buildings have around 52,000 lights. Around 1,000 solar-powered street lights illuminate the island's streets at night.
The ponds – each 5,461 square feet – will be used as alternative sources of water. Besides, there are also rainwater harvesting facilities in all cluster houses.
Roads stretching around 42km have been constructed for internal communication. Human haulers and battery-run rickshaws will ply the roads.
The mobile phone network on the island is provided by Grameenphone and Robi. A fire station is also there.
