Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh is becoming more evident by the day. Refugees in the camp are not getting even three meals a day. Children are suffering from malnutrition. Meanwhile, 90 children are born every day in the Rohingya camps. As a result, in the last 6 years, around two lakh Rohingyas have increased in the camps. However, international financial support for the Rohingya is decreasing day by day.

The monthly food vouchers for the Rohingyas in the Cox's Bazar camp have been reduced twice in three months due to a drop in donations. This has reduced the daily ration of Rohingya by 33 percent. In the beginning, they were given food assistance of $12 per person a month. It was later reduced to $10. And now 8 dollar is given. Desperation and anger among the Rohingyas grew as the rations were reduced.

The Rohingyas in the camp say they are given food for 8 dollars or 900 Bangladeshi taka. With which they have to skip meals, they are not able to eat even one meal a day. A good meal is a far cry. Many Rohingyas are leaving the camps in search of work. In various places including Teknaf Port, they are working as day labourers for a low wage while keeping their identities hidden. This is having a negative impact on the local people.

Gwen Lewis, UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, told reporters, "We are very concerned that the World Food Organization is forced to reduce food aid to the Rohingya in Bangladesh. The impact of this on the health and nutrition of the Rohingyas will be dire. The most vulnerable people, including women, children, will be particularly affected."

In such a situation, the United Nations has called for urgent funding for the Rohingyas. Donor countries and organisations continue to mobilize aid, but the response is not as expected. Therefore, Bangladesh is forced to take a loan and grant of 700 million dollars from the World Bank for the Rohingyas. Of this, $540 million is a loan and $160 million is a grant.

Decreasing international community attention and financial support to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is costing a huge amount of money from the Bangladesh government's exchequer. In the last one year, the government has spent 169 million dollars, which is about 17 thousand 576 million takas in Bangladeshi currency. This is information gleaned from the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's former foreign minister Shahriar Alam told reporters, "The international community is struggling to provide even 50 percent of what Bangladesh spends on the Rohingyas. A country with a per capita income of less than $3,000 spends more than a billion dollars a year from its own pocket. In this case, donors should come forward."

High birth rate in the camps

Ninety babies are born every day in Rohingya camps. About 2 lakh children were born in 5 years. Although 1 lakh 58 thousand children have been registered. As a result, the Rohingya population and their needs are increasing everyday in the camp. The rising birth rate of the Rohingya has become a headache for Bangladesh.

As the number of children in the camps increases, the future of the Rohingya children becomes uncertain. They have to grow up in the unsanitary environment of the camp and in under extreme malnutrition. Various NGOs provide sub-formal education for them in the camps but it is on a limited scale. There are not enough books in Rohingya language. No one is taught in Bengali language in the school here. They are taught in Rohingya language and English language. Abu Taher works for an NGO called the Danish Refugee Council. He said while talking to the journalists that the children here are very neglected. They don't get good food. They suffer from cold, fever, diarrhea and pneumonia due to lack of proper hygiene.

Sources in the Directorate of Family Planning said that the Rohingyas are not at all familiar with the idea of birth control. They are not interested in this at all either. So we are trying to make them aware of this issue. Some of them think birth control is a sin. Three and a half thousand community health workers of 35 NGOs are working in 33 Rohingya camps to raise awareness about birth control. The Islamic Foundation is working through local mosques to raise awareness about birth control in the light of Islam. As a result, many are now interested in birth control. If this program is to be implemented, condoms and pills should be given to them free of cost. Because the Rohingyas will not be interested in spending money to buy these things where they do not even have enough money for three meals a day.

Experts believe that the birth control program would have been more effective if the United Nations had imposed stricter restrictions on having more than 2 children per adolescent. In the meantime, Bangladesh has requested the United Nations to prioritise family planning.

In a meeting on refugee issues, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal emphasised on the need for birth control in the Rohingya refugee camps. He claimed, "Every year 35 thousand Rohingya children are born in these shelters." One and a half lakh five-year-old children have increased automatically. Referring to it as a big challenge, he said, "All kinds of initiatives should be taken to tackle it.

 Concern is growing among the locals

According to the statistics of the UNHCR, the UNICEF and Save the Children, about 90 children are currently being added to Rohingya camps every day. As a result, the number of sheltered Rohingyas has increased to about 1.45 million. This has caused extreme anxiety and worry among the local people. Because the way the number of Rohingyas is increasing, if it continues to increase, not only Tefnaf and Ukhiya, but in the entire Cox's Bazar, the local residents will become minority.

Moreover, due to the large number of Rohingya population, prices of goods in Ukhiya and Teknaf have increased abnormally. Compared to the demand, there is less supply of daily products including vegetables, fish, meat. As a result, the price of everyday products, especially vegetables, fish and meat, has skyrocketed. Locals feel that due to the large number of Rohingya in their midst, they have to pay this extra cost while buying their daily goods. Previously, the quantity of vegetables and fish produced in these two upazilas, the demand of the locals was met and there was a surplus, which the farmers used to sell outside. Due to the reduction of land to accommodate the Rohingyas, the production has decreased, the demand has increased manifold. As a result, commodity prices have increased abnormally. Locals are affected by this.

Local poor people have to struggle to make ends meet. Similarly, as the labour market is gradually being taken over by the Rohingyas, the livelihood of the low-income people is being disrupted.

Apart from this, the residents of Tenaf and Ukhiya have to face various risks when they go out, especially when going to Dhaka or Chittagong. During the routine search they have to prove that they are not Rohingyas. They are harassed in various ways when they try to apply for a passport or when they go abroad.

The Rohingyas in good financial condition are getting NID card and passport of Bangladesh through brokers. And they are using addresses of different places in the country to make these passports. The intelligence branch of the police recently arrested 23 people on the charge of giving passports and NIDs to Rohingyas. The relevant soft documents, delivery slips of hundreds of passports were found in the mobile phones of the arrested brokers.Turned out, they had already provided 143 passports made for the Rohingyas in the last three months.

Environment under threat

Rohingya settlements are still being built in Ukhiya and Teknaf. As a result, agricultural land, mountains, forests and biodiversity are being severely damaged. In and around Teknaf and Ukhiyar where the Rohingyas are living, many families were engaged in agriculture and fishing. But now the Rohingyas are dumping waste in the vast tracts of arable land. As a result, many crop lands have turned into wasteland and have become unfit for cultivation. Many locals have become unemployed.

Teknaf and Ukhiya once had lush greenery. There were many plants. Now there is no greenery, there are countless small shacks. Trees are being cut down for fuel. Due to Rohingya settlement, 12,000 acres of forest land in Ukhiya and Teknaf under the control of Cox's Bazar South Forest Division has been destroyed.

Some 2,12,607 toilets for Rohingyas, 20 temporary warehouses for storing relief, 13 km of power lines, 30 km of road construction and 20 km of canals have been dug. 2 thousand 231 crores worth of forest has been destroyed in this. The environment, forests and biodiversity are under threat. Apart from this, the region was once the habitat and range of Asian elephants. Elephants are rarely seen there anymore.

Disruption to peace

Once Ukhiya and Teknaf were a quiet countryside. There used to be a lot of crops. Rice, betel nuts, and lots of wood were grown. People were quite happy. Peace has been taken away from the residents of Ukhiya and Teknaf while giving space to 1.45 million Rohingya. According to sources, 32 armed terrorist groups are active in 33 camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf. The terrorist activities of these groups are increasing day by day. At the same time Rohingyas are getting involved in yaba and ice or cristal math (Methamphetamine) business.

According to a BBC report, "164 murders have occurred in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh in the last 5 and a half years. Murders, abductions, and shootings have become a daily occurrence in the camps." The BBC also reported, "There are several terrorist groups active in the Rohingya camps, it's like an open secret. But no one wants to talk about it. Because they fear, once someone is in focus, they will become a target."

A changed town

Cox's Bazar is now a changed town due to the large refugee Rohingya population. Here the number of Rohingyas is several times more than the local population. In this way, the locals consider the increase of the number of Rohingyas as poisonous. According to the latest survey of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the total population of Ukhiya is 263 thousand 186 people and Teknaf is 333 thousand 863 people. That is, the local population of the two upazilas is 5 lakh 57 thousand 49 people. And there are 14.5 million Rohingya in these two upazilas. Which is almost two and a half times more than the local population in these two police stations. As a result, the locals have become a minority here.

Meanwhile, the total population of 9 upazilas in Cox's Bazar is 28 lakh 93 thousand 265 people. And in Cox's Bazar there are 14.5 million Rohingyas. As the Rohingya population is increasing, many people fear that the locals in Cox's Bazar will one day become minority.

Meanwhile, local residents of Ukhiya and Teknaf are worried about their existence and future because of the Rohingyas. Having been in the camp for six years straight, they are now behaving as if they were real residents. Moreover, Rohingyas are using locals in their drug trade especially yaba, ice and arms trade. The locals fear that Ukhiya and Teknaf have become a town of terror.

Locals said that the Rohingyas are becoming intolerant day by day. Bangladesh is in danger of sheltering Rohingyas due to humanitarian reasons. On the one hand, the Rohingyas are struggling to provide a huge amount of money for their sustenance. On the other hand, criminal behaviour is increasing among the Rohingyas. About 200 Rohingya have died in six years of internal conflict. Only in June of this year, 9 people were killed in various camps in Ukhiya in about 12 days. 26 people were killed in the first 5 months of this year. 4 people were killed in April, 7 people were killed in May, the number of cases of kidnapping, rape, drug dealing, robbery and human trafficking is about 3 thousand 200. Clashes and gunfights are taking place between two terrorist groups in Burma—the Arakan Salvation Army (ARSA) and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO). At times they clash with the law enforcement agencies. Talking to the locals, it is known that several smuggling syndicates of the two countries are bringing large shipments of yaba and ice taking advantage of the unstable conditions in the Rakhine state. Terrorist groups buy heavy weapons and ammunition with drug money. There is a clash between them for dominance.

In this situation, the sociologists do not see any  option other than send them back to the country. They think that the longer the delay in sending the Rohingyas back to Myanmar, the more Bangladesh will face a crisis. The Rohingyas will be a major obstacle to get out of the ranks of less developed countries and rise to lower middle income countries. Because of the decrease in donations from donor groups, Bangladesh will have to spend a lot of money for the Rohingyas' food, health and accommodation. It will have a negative impact on the country’s GDP.

According to experts, there is no alternative to increasing international pressure on Myanmar to send the Rohingyas back to their country. In order to solve this crisis, the UNHCR should be proactive in solving the crisis by involving India and China more.