PM sincere to implement CHT accord: Dr Samad
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is very sincere for the full implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace treaty, Executive Chairman of the Board of Investment Dr SA Samad said yesterday.
As it was signed for the betterment of indigenous people, the duty falls on the government to complete the remaining obligations, he said.
Referring to people's interest in saving biodiversity, Dr Samad called for thinking about the preservation of the cultural diversity of different indigenous communities in the hills.
The senior official made the observations while addressing a national workshop on Jhum Cultivation (shifting cultivation) as the chief guest.
Green Hill, a local NGO, organised the programme with support from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal, at Small Ethnic Cultural Institute in Rangamati town.
Participants in the workshop said the forest department should not have control over jhum cultivation; rather it has to help jhum farmers promote the cultivation through the use of modern technologies.
Most indigenous people at marginal level earned their livelihood through jhum cultivation in hilly areas, and growing more crops is only possible in jhum land, they said.
So the government must come forward to stand beside the jhum farmers for their betterment and for the traditional profession to continue to exist, they added.
The participants also suggested that land management be handed over to the hill district council for the interests of hill people.
Jatan Kumar Dewan, programme director of Green Hill, presented the keynote paper while Tuku Talukder, chairperson of Green Hill, was in the chair.
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