The hill management committee on Wednesday decided to relocate more than one thousand families dwelling in the slopes of 13 hills in Chittagong to avert loss of lives and property in the upcoming rainy season.
The committee at a meeting, with the divisional commissioner Sirajul Hoque Khan in the chair, at the circuit house decided to provide Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200 to each of the families monthly as house rent.
The deputy commissioner, Fayez Ahmed, said they would also allow the families dwelling in the slopes of vulnerable hills to set up makeshift houses on the lands of district administration in and around the city for the interim period.
He also said a committee was formed with the director of the Department of Environment as convener and chief engineer of the Chittagong City Corporation as member secretary to prepare a report on visiting the vulnerable hills.
Ismail Hossain, additional deputy commissioner, director at the Department of Environment Mohammed Jafar, representatives of Bangladesh Army, Railway, Water and Sewerage Authority, Chittagong Development Authority, Chittagong City Corporation and Fire Service and Civil Defence were present at the meeting.
At least 126 people killed in a series of landslides in different areas in the city on June 11 in 2007 while 82 persons in 2011, 11 in 2008, 7 in 2002, 16 in 2000 and 19 in 1999, were killed in landslides in the past 12 years.
Two committees formed after the catastrophic incident of 2007 placed 36-point recommendation, including evacuation of people from the risky area and measures to rehabilitate them but most of the recommendations remained unimplemented.
Preparing a national hill management policy and ban on setting up brick kilns within 10 kilometres and housing projects within five kilometres of hills were also recommended in the reports of the committees, both headed by the then divisional commissioner.
Other recommendations of the committees include forming vigilance team to check new settlements in risky areas, construction of retention and boundary walls immediately at different risky hills, massive forestation and tougher punishment for the hill cutters.