Chittagong Hill Tracts are changing every moment in Bangladesh

70 km away from Bandarban city, sitting on the banks of Baga Lake, there is now a facility to have coffee. This is an exciting opportunity for the upper-middle class of Dhaka. There is also a camp there to protect them. Hundreds of people go to Ruma every week to enjoy the beauty of this clear water lake at a height of 2000 feet above the sea level.

If you talk to tourists while walking around, you will hear about strange things. They want more cottages here, more 'advanced' communications, more camps for security. They want to get additional opportunities for safe entertainment in and around Baga Lake on full moon night. In order to relax in these places even in summer, 24 hours electricity system is also ensured.

The administration is also willing to provide these as possible in the coming days. The gap between demand and supply is not much. As a result, the entire Chittagong Hill Tracts are changing every moment like Baga Lake.

But the Boms of the local Bagamukpara have little privacy left. Young women of Bampara used to bathe in this lake once. They have been closed for a long time. There is a lot of crowd around their house these days. Normal behavior is the responsibility. Visitors want to take selfies in the courtyard of the bombs. A Marma youth said angrily, 'To tourists we are more or less like animals in a "safari park".

The solitude of the past and the chirping of numerous species of birds are rare here. Even 20 years ago, there was not so much crowd, shops, hustle and bustle, petrol-mobile-vehicle business, heaps of plastic and garbage near Kamala Bazar or Ruma Bazar on the way to Baga Lake. The nearby Tripura settlement called 'Natun Para' has also disappeared. Many neighborhoods in different parts of the district have to be moved to make way for tourist centers. It was once unbelievable that a local hill girl could be found in the sex trade in Bandarban town. But with these things, a new economy is constantly growing all around, the major part of which is certainly not under the control of the Paharis.

Where does Pankhora of Ruiluipara go?

Like Baga Lake, Khagrachari's major attraction, Alutila, has seen many new shops. Surely, such a trend will increase in the coming days. There was supposed to be a tourism 'zone'. Due to the fear of losing their land, the local people across the three mouzas started a movement in the past. They wanted fruit and medicinal gardens on that land. The project has stopped for the time being due to the heated objection. But the wave of tourism did not stop.

Every day at least 200 people from the plains visit Khagrachari. This number exceeds 500 on Friday-Saturday. Buses and hotels are difficult to find during winter holidays. Transport business, hotel business has developed well around these people. But the innocent days of Chakma and Tripura villages in the hills are no longer the same.

Rangamati Sajek is now a bigger attraction for urban tourists than Baga Lake and Alutila. There are many resorts here to meet the demand. Many 'investors' are coming. The price of land around Ruiluipara here has become the same as Rangamati city. It is difficult for Sajek's once poor jumchasi Tripura and Pankhwas to hold on to such valuable land. Many have already given the land to investors at 'good prices'. There is no jumchas around. The two-day tourists from distant districts who come to see the beauty of tourism 'super spot' Sajek may never know why Pankhora in Ruiluipara and Kanglakpara of Sajek Union is gradually decreasing; Where are they going? This may also be irrelevant to the tourism economy, as there are only a few hundred Pankhwa families in Bangladesh. Although many investments are coming to Saje today, there was no investment in the past to solve the water crisis here. In 2017 too, news of a famine in remote areas of Sajek created panic across the country.

However, many of Sajek's resort builders today are hillbillies. They are the rich people of Rangamati-Khagrachari. They have a good share in the tourism economy here. These are the ones who may leave more distant investors out of business at higher prices in the coming days. There are also signs of that. This is the normal rule of profit oriented business. The common hill dwellers are therefore not very enthusiastic about the rise of mountain tourism. The local district councils are also not in a position to exercise authority over these questions.But far-reaching cultural exchanges can occur in the plains and mountains by using local government and promoting tourism. With an example of this, related researcher Pavel Parth said, if a group of doctors conducts a medical camp while visiting a mountain village and if the local people provide accommodation and food in return, then a new culture would be born as an alternative to profiteering. This great possibility is left only in the hands of traders.

How much chatter-cheer-masti adorn?

Tourists are indifferent to this question. However, the lifestyle of Paharis and their hill settlements are the main attractions of the emerging tourism economy. But its financial relationship with them is developing little. Apart from Sajek's resorts, their share is not much in the transport and hotel business of the whole region. In addition, there has been a decline in everyone's interest in the development of a zoom-centered agricultural economy. Government and private all efforts for the development of tourism. It can also be seen on Facebook that suddenly beautiful places such as caves, waterfalls, springs etc. are being 'discovered' in the remote areas. After this kind of discovery, the locals have to reduce the use of that water. A new road leading there was started for the enjoyment of tourists. As a 'project' these are very good. And the road is another new transportation route, which is also the income route for many people.

Due to the daily needs of the tourists, there is also a daily market on the hill. Shubhra Jyoti Chakma, a cultural researcher of Rangamati, said that it is the responsibility of many local people to run the household on the fixed income during the winter season. The market for everything, including fish and meat, is upward. The generous spirit of tourists forces the spendthrift locals to cut back on their menu. Merchant third parties take the opportunity well.

As with tourism, local businesses are largely controlled by non-mountaineers. The situation is almost the same throughout the five thousand square miles from Alikadam to Panchari. The cultural side-effects of this local economy demand special attention. Since tourism is mainly controlled by other nationalities and those who go there in search of pleasure are also people of other nationalities; Hence there is a lack of respect for local culture. How much of the cultural hide of other communities can be looked at, how much chat-joy-masti adornment; Many tourists are indifferent to the importance of responsibility towards nature. No one seems to think of any alternative plan and practice to change this situation. A resident of Kaptai Lake settlement gave a small example of what happens if there is no necessary tourism education. He said, the joy of the sound system of the picnic party in the morning and evening in the winter took away their comfort.

Still Rangamati-Khagrachari-Bandarban can't be imagined without tourists. Rather, the three districts are ready for more expansion of tourism. Many young people dream of doing something around it without getting other employment. To be sure, there will be a lot of projects-roads-building in the hilly regions in the future as in the past to realize the 'enormous potential' of tourism. For these works, a lot of stones have to be collected from different streams and watercourses. Indiscriminate extraction of these stones will change the layout of the land. Landslides may also increase. Water sources may decrease. As a result of all this, in many places, the old residents have to relocate and move further afield. The seemingly fleeting visitors to the area will not reduce the traffic of pleasure-seeking people. However, the whole situation could have been made more sustainable, beautified and relieved by increasing the opinion and participation of the locals of Chittagong Hill Tracts. According to Buddhjyoti Chakma, a journalist from Bandarban, the expansion of commerce surrounding the nature and its beauty, the local people's hesitations and doubts need their full involvement in tourism planning. Buddhajyoti Chakma's expectation of what type of tourism can be carried out across the three districts, will it be possible in this township?