Landslide zones in Ctg to be marked

The government initiated the process to mark hillsides and valleys, where landslides are possible, as "Red Zones", evacuate people living in those areas and bring those areas under afforestation. The move comes a day after 11 people died in a mudslide at Matirjharna in Chittagong city.Commerce and Education Adviser Zillur Rahman gave the necessary directives to authorities concerned in this regard during a meeting in Chittagong yesterday. The meeting was held at the local circuit house following Monday's rain-induced mudslide that killed 11 people.At the meeting Bangladesh Railway, Chittagong Wasa, Public Works Department and the Police Department, which own most of these vulnerable lands, were instructed to manage their lands and hills following a low-cost protection plan, said the adviser while talking to journalists later.A Technical Protection Committee was formed headed by the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) chairman to prepare a low-cost sustainable protection plan for management of hills and vulnerable lands applying geotechnical methods, he said.The authorities concerned were directed to file cases against those erecting illegal slums on such lands and charging them specifically to help speed up disposal of cases.The adviser said a case was already filed with Khulshi Police Station against Abdullah Hasan Piko who developed the Hossain Colony slum on risky hillside at Matijharna.He said in order to help conduct drives against illegal development of slums in risky areas, the government would take initiatives to include related sections and clauses of the environmental act in mobile court laws.The commerce adviser said drives to relocate people living in risky hillside and valley houses continued under the initiatives taken after the June 11, 2007 tragic landside. But the relocated people returned to the same places indicating that the relocation was not a sustainable solution so far as economic reality was concerned, he observed.The commerce adviser also visited the relief camp set up at Lalkhan Bazar Government Primary School and the landslide spot at Matijharna.Sources said the Hill Management Committee was formed to introduce a set of rules for proper management of hills following the rain-induced devastating landslide and inundation that left 127 people dead in the city on June 11, 2007.Under the vigilance of the committee, different authorities filed a total of 261 cases under the environmental act and 250 families were relocated since June 11, 2007.Sources said the initiative to declare vulnerable areas as red zones and bringing them under afforestation was proposed by the Hill Management Committee.“The Hill Management Committee and the Technical Protection Committee would hold a meeting on December 25 to decide on hill management issues following technical and sustainable protection plans," said Additional Deputy Commissioner (revenue) Zafar Alam, also member secretary of the Hill Management Committee.CDA Chairman Shah Muhammad Akhter Uddin, who is heading the Technical Protection Committee, said they are thinking about building walkways and planting trees around the hills to prevent slums from sprouting there.Over 50,000 people are living in risky slums in the port city, said the chairman quoting a study the CDA carried out last year.After providing one tonne of rice as instant food assistance to the affected families of Monday's landslide the district administration is now providing Tk 4.25 lakh as compensation to victims' families.Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) also provided Tk 50 thousand as financial assistance to the landslide affected people who were now staying at a relief camp.Meanwhile, a woman died and four others were injured in a rain-induced mudslide at Baishari Rangajhiri of Naikhongchhari upazila early yesterday, a correspondent in Bandarban reports.The mudslide destroyed three houses built on hillside.The dead was identified as Safura Khatun, 50.Just after the incident, the local administration started evacuating people from the area and people living in houses on the slopes of different hills.