CHATTOGRAM, May 31: Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed warned of launching stringent drives against violence-mongers, saying "Jungle Salimpur will no longer remain a sanctuary for criminals and the government has no plan to evict any innocent individuals from the area now".
"We will root out terrorism from this area through a coordinated and strategic operation. Besides, operations will be carried out in the Betua and Tea Garden regions too to free the entire areas from terrorist groups," he said.
The Home Minister made the remarks while briefing the press during his visit to the Jungle Salimpur area on Sunday. Jungle Salimpur, a hard to access hilly area under Sitakunda upazila of the district besides Dhaka-Ctg highway with hundreds of illegally built slums and half-concrete houses, has turned into a criminals' den for more than one and half a decade.
A RAB officer were killed last year and a number of law enforcers were injured as the armed criminals attacked them while conducting drives at different times to bring the areas under administrative control by freeing it from the dominancy of anti-social elements.
The Home Minister announced that the government has plans to establish a new prison in the Jungle Salimpur region of Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram. He said that a vested interest quarter has been spreading rumors on eviction of general inhabitants of the area to provoke them.
"The government has no plan to evict the inhabitants of the area who were compelled to live in the area for a time due to various circumstances. Rather, the government is actively considering to rehabilitate them under a comprehensive plan", he added.
"This government is people's government and it has taken state power to serve the people," said the minister and asked the people of the area not to be misled based on rumor by vested interest groups.
Referring to incidents of firing on the residence of a businessman for demanding illegal toll-money and also some incidents of violence for collection of tolls, the Home Minister said government has taken seriously and sincerely those criminal activities that took place in Chattogram region after the present government assuming the office.
Salahuddin Ahmad said that for the last 17 years, the Alinagar-Jungle Salimpur region has been recognized as a refuge for terrorists.
In this context, he announced that the government has taken an uncompromising stand to take strict legal and administrative measures to uproot drug-related offenses, violence, gambling, and extortion across the country.
These four-category criminal activities will be addressed with the highest level of seriousness, and efforts will be made to eradicate them completely, he added.
Pointing out the shortcomings of the current legislation on gambling control, the Home Minister noted that it is not feasible to regulate contemporary online and offline gambling or betting practices under the Gambling Act of 1867. As a result, steps have been initiated to draft a new law, he said.
