Shawdesh Desk:

As part of the government’s initiative to relocate Rohingyas to Bhasan Char, 1,134 Rohingyas started their journey to the island by five ships on Tuesday in the second batch.

Ships carrying the Rohingyas left the Patenga Naval jetty around 9:30am.

The second group of Rohingyas, numbering around 1,700, was brought to Chattogram from Cox’s Bazar on Monday by bus. They reached Chattogram around 8pm and spent the night at the temporary transit camp at BAF Shaheen College.

But only 1,134 Rohingyas are being shifted today while the rest are at the temporary camp, said Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, director of the Bhasan Char Rohingya Camp Rehabilitation Project.

In the first batch, 1,642 Rohingyas were transferred to Bhashan Char on December 4.

Bangladesh is hosting more than 1.1 million Rohingyas, most of whom came here from their homeland in Myanmar starting in Aug 2017. Bangladesh has been urging the global community to mount pressure on Myanmar for effective repatriation of the Rohingyas.

The government plans to shift some 100,000 Rohingyas to Bhasan Char in phases to provide them with a better living place. Located 34 kilometres from the mainland, the island surfaced 20 years ago and was never inhabited.

Contractors say its infrastructure is like a modern township, with multi-family concrete homes, schools, playgrounds and roads. It also has solar-power facilities, a water supply system and cyclone shelters.