State Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Dipankar Talukdar Saturday informed the Parliament that the socio-economic conditions of people of the CHT region have improved after execution of the CHT Treaty.

Below is an article published by United News of Bangladesh:

Replying to a question of AKM Rahmatullah, he said political, social, cultural, educational and economic rights of the Chittagong Hill Tracts people have been ensured following the agreement that was signed between the government and the PCJSS in 1997.

About the social condition, he said 12,223 tribal refugees had returned from India and had been rehabilitated. "Some 90,308 tribal and 38,156 non-tribal internal refugees have been identified in three hill districts and the government has pulled out a total 235 army camps from the region," he added.

The State Minster said the government has already formed a land commission led by a retired justice to solve the longstanding land dispute of the rehabilitated refugees.

Moving on to cultural and educational conditions, Dipankar Talukdar said the government set up Tribal Cultural Institutes in the three hill districts to preserve the unique tribal cultural heritage apart from the enhancing tribal culture.

He further informed that the Education Ministry has taken initiative to set up a Science and Technology University in Rangamati.