Blockade in Rangamati's Sajek stops farmers reaching market as bananas, papaya and other crops ripen and rot

Farmers in Sajek, Rangamati, are in trouble because of a continuing road blockade. With road communication closed, they cannot take their produce — bananas, papaya, sugarcane, sweet pumpkin, wax gourd and various vegetables — to market. As a result the produce is ripening and rotting on the trees and in homes, and farmers in the hills face financial loss because they cannot sell it in time.

Tuesday (3 November) was the second day of the fourth phase of an indefinite road blockade in Sajek called by two organisations supported by the UPDF. From the morning, blockaders protested by placing tree trunks on the road and lighting fires. Before this phase, a 10-day blockade had ended and was relaxed for one day on Sunday.

Leaders of the Sajek Gano Adhikar Rokkha Committee and the Sajek Karbari Association said local residents have long lived in anxiety in Sajek because of armed group activity, intimidation and insecurity. They said they are continuing the blockade with demands including an end to that situation, ensuring security and justice for the 22 October incident.

Because of the blockade, Sajek's road communication with other parts of the country has been cut off. Supplies of food, daily necessities and medicine from outside are being disrupted. Local residents said a food crisis has appeared because necessary goods have not reached the market for a long time, while the fruit and farm produce they grow is rotting because it cannot be marketed.

Pradip Chakma, a resident of the Aghojjachhari area of Sajek, said the bananas are ripening on the trees and will all rot if they cannot be taken to market within the set time. He said everyone in his neighbourhood has the same problem. Hearing that the blockade would be relaxed for one day last Sunday, he had cut banana bunches and kept them by the roadside, but because of another organisation's blockade he could not take them to market. He said if the blockade is not lifted the bananas will rot there, and they will have to go hungry for the whole year.

Joupaithang Tripura, headman of Sajek's No. 169 Shialdai mouza and UP member of Ward No. 9, said most residents of the 22 neighbourhoods in his ward depend on jum cultivation. Because of the blockade they cannot go to Machalong market. As a result they are in trouble because they cannot sell bananas, papaya, sugarcane, sweet pumpkin, wax gourd, taro and other farm produce, and much of it is ripening and spoiling.

Joupaithang Tripura also said there is a shortage in the market of nappi, dried fish, necessary medicine and household goods. Local sources said prolonged blockade and conflict have increased the suffering of ordinary people in Sajek, food at home is running out, and there is no adequate arrangement to take sick patients to hospital.

Meanwhile, considering control of the law and order situation and the safety of tourists, the district administration has banned tourist entry to the Sajek tourist centre.

On the overall situation in Sajek, Sajek Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Tofazzal Hossain said two organisations are observing a blockade in Sajek. However, no report of any untoward incident has been received anywhere. He said the administration is on full alert.