Mong Sing Hai Marma

Farmers in the hilly areas under the Chimbuk range in Bandarban are gradually shifting from traditional jhum cultivation to coffee farming, driven by better market prospects and higher returns.

A 15-day craft and cottage industry fair is being organised on the playground of Mro Residential High School in Suwalak union under Bandarban Sadar upazila without permission from the school authorities and at a time when students’ annual examinations are underway.

Four decades after its inception in 1984, Bandarban municipality still has no permanent waste management facility.

In the Galengya union of Ruma upazila, Bandarban, allegations have emerged that bricks from an abandoned government primary school are being used in the construction of a new Buddhist monastery.

Just a few years ago, jhum farming defined the landscape of Chimbuk’s hillside areas of Sualok and Tongbati in Bandarban Sadar upazila. Farmers cleared forest patches, burned undergrowth, and planted rice, maize, or spices. After harvest, the land would be left fallow for years to recover its fertility.

The state must realise that acknowledging and empowering its indigenous peoples is not a concession; it is a constitutional and moral obligation.

Police yesterday arrested the owner of a tour company in a case over the death of two trekkers, including a young woman, in a trail in Alikadam upazila of Bandarban last week.

Illegal hill cutting in the Thoingyapara area of Balaghata union in Bandarban Sadar upazila has been disrupting academic activities at Thoingyapara Government Primary School.