Continued influx of Rohingyas, unplanned settlement of refugees and haphazard development activities by many organisations make it difficult for the authorities to relocate all the refugees to Balukhali camp in Ukhia.

"As a huge number of people suddenly entered the Balukhali camp, we didn't get the opportunity to put up a plan for them immediately," Mohammad Abul Kalam, relief and refugee repatriation commissioner (RRRC) of the relief and disaster management ministry, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Some unplanned development activities, including setting up of tube wells and latrines, by many local development organisations and individuals made it tough for the authorities to relocate the refugees, said the official of RRRC who has been tasked with coordinating the relocation, relief and repatriation of the Rohingyas.

"An estimated 1.75 lakh people are yet to be relocated to Balukhali camp. Once all the refugees are moved, we will make the place liveable with our limited resources," he added.

Md Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar, echoed the views of Kalam. He said doing everything in a planned way for such a large number of refugees was tough.

Moving all the Rohingyas from Ukhia, Teknaf and Ramu upazilas of Cox's Bazar to a designated area would be difficult as they have set up tents haphazardly, said officials.

Ensuring water and sanitation facilities for the refugees would be another major challenge. Officials at the RRRC's office said most of the toilets in refugee camps were built on an urgent basis and many of those pose health risks.

According to officials, the 3,000-acre Balukhali camp has been divided into 10 zones and 20 blocks and more than 20 officers were deployed there to oversee the development activities. Each of the zones would house around 45,000 people.

They said all the measures were temporary and a long-term plan for relocation of the refugees would be drawn up once the influx of refugees from Myanmar is reduced.

Initially, tent, cane, bamboo, rope and other materials were given to around one lakh Rohingya families for setting up huts inside the Balukhali camp. A 12-km road is under construction there. The work on five-km has already finished, said officials.

Visiting the Balukhali camp yesterday, these correspondents saw toilets and tube wells being set up. Many Rohingyas were busy building their huts.

An official, seeking anonymity, said toilets were previously set up with just two to three concrete rings, but those were filled up within two to three days.

"We found that there was one toilet for around 126 families. Now under the supervision of army, several toilet complexes are being built inside the camp."

The Monar Ghona area in Balukhali camp-2 was highly congested. Latrines were being set up in an unplanned manner.

Sonjida Khatun, a Rohingya of the camp, said her family along with three other families live in a 460-square-feet house. It provides shelter to 23 people.

"The four families are separated by just polythene sheets," said the newly married 25-year-old.

The camp has 103 houses for 460 people, said block community leader (Majhi) Abul Fayez, a Rohingya leader from the families.

All the 30 toilets of the camp have been built side-by-side. People living away from the toilets defecate in the open at night as they cannot move in the darkness, he added.

"There is a severe water crisis in the camp as there are only two tube wells. We have no bathroom here. To take a bath, we need to go to another camp crossing two hillocks," he said.

In many places, tube well pipes have been installed 30 feet deep in the ground. Those should have been installed 150 feet deep in the ground for smooth supply of water, said sources at RRRC's office.

Noor Mahal along with her husband Sayed Alam came to Bangladesh on September 6.

"We got only a tent and some ropes for our hut. We had to buy bamboo," she said, adding that she sold her earrings to buy bamboo and other items for the makeshift house.

Hossain Ahmed, block community leader of Balukhali camp-3, said there were 157 houses in the camp and the families only got tents and ropes from the authorities to make their houses.

Jokir Mia from Maungdaw of Rakhine entered Bangladesh on September 2. His sons Younus and Shafiq and 12 other family members accompanied him. They now live in a 360-square-feet tent.

"We are three families here. We sleep in a single position all night," Shafiq said.

500 HILLOCS DAMAGED

Talking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, forest department officials said around 500 hillocks have been damaged so far due to the influx of Rohingyas since late August.

Md Ali Kabir, divisional forest officer (South) in Cox's Bazar, said Rohingyas have taken shelter on the reserved forest land.

Officials said more than 4,000-acre forest department land has been occupied by the refugees. They feared the total 6,000-acre land would be gradually taken over by the Rohingyas.

Meanwhile, the RRRC's office on October 4 started counting the refugee families to get the actual number of Rohingyas who had entered Bangladesh. It has so far registered 16,000 families.

"We hope to complete the task within the next two weeks," said RRRC Abul Kalam.

Until Tuesday, biometric registration of 1,17,523 people have been completed, said AKM Lutfar Rahman, assistant commissioner of Cox's Bazar DC office.

The process had begun on September 12 at six booths. Two more booths will start working from today, he added.