Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace accord will be implemented fully during the tenure of the present government as most of the points of the accord have already been implemented, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader.

Speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural programme of Raj Punnah festival of Bohmong Circle, the minister said the government is working with a view to developing the CHT area as a tourism zone.

Seventeenth Bohmong Circle King engineer U Chaw Prue inaugurated the three-day festival in the hill district town, ascending a makeshift throne at Puraton Rajar Math around 1:00pm yesterday. 

Raj Punnah is one of the oldest traditional festivals in the CHT region.

It is an annual jhum tax collection programme where the Bohmong Circle chief collects taxes from headmen (chief of a mouza) and karbaris (chief of a para).

Young indigenous boys and girls greeted the king, showering petals on him and performing traditional cultural programmes.

Every year, thousands of indigenous people from Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari throng Rajbari compound in Bandarban town to celebrate the festival.