Supply of water to the Rohingyas staying at camps in Cox’s Bazar would be the most challenging task in the coming days, says Environment Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud.
The ground water level has dropped by 100 metres in the last one year and one can only imagine what will happen after a year, he said on Tuesday at the launching of a UNDP study ‘Environmental Impact of Rohingya Influx’.
The minister said there is not sufficient supply of surface water in the Cox’s Bazar while ground water level is depleting fast. “It is not easy to provide water to 1.1 million Rohingyas who have taken shelter in the district to save their lives from Myanmar military.”
The government in the last one year set up 6,500 shallow tube-wells and 150 deep tube-wells in the to cater to need of Rohingyas.
Environment Secretary Abdullah Al Mohsin Chowdhury urged the UNDP to come up with a comprehensive plan. “You have collected the data in October and November last year and filed the report a year later. It does not represent the actual fact as so many things happened after that.”
The environmental loss is much higher than what has been described in the study, according to Chowdhury.
The report found that 1,502 hectares of forest land were encroached while currently Rohingyas are living more than 6,000 hectares of land, he added.