DHAKA: Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister GM Quader Tuesday said the government has nothing to do about the lands already occupied illegally on the seashore in Cox’s Bazar rather the challenge is to protect the rest.

“We have nothing to do about the occupied lands but we have to work for protecting the remainder, which has not yet been encroached upon,” he told a discussion meeting, five days after the High Court upheld government decision canceling the lease of 55 plots on the Cox`s Bazar beach.

World View, a travel and tourism journal, organised the result-dissemination ceremony of ‘Ranking of Nature-based Private Sector Tourism Establishments-Resorts in Bangladesh’ at the National Press Club.

Quader, in his speech as the chief guest, identified inconsistencies in implementing policy due to changes of government as well as the political scenario as a major setback for the country’s tourism sector.

He said, “The intervention of the government’s highest authority is imperative in solving the crisis.”

Quader also laid emphasis on coordination between public and private sectors for the expansion of this nascent sector that holds a lot of untapped potential with tourist attractions that are unique.

Bangladesh boasts world’s longest unbroken beach along the Bay of Bengal, the largest mangrove forest in the Sundarbans that kisses the sea, historic mosques, the origin of Durga Puja festival, the biggest Buddhist monastery and the like.

The Government is working on some plans, including Special Tourism Area, Tourism Police, Tourism Board and observance of Tourism Year in 2011, for hiking awareness about the travel and sightseeing industry, he added.

Professor Dr. Ashraful Islam Chowdhury, the founding Chairman of Tourism and Hospitality Management Department of Dhaka University, and Mahmud Al-Faisal, Executive Editor of Daily Destiny, also spoke at the meet with World View Editor Quazi Raquibul Islam in the chair.  

The Tourism Minister distributed certificates to the winners of the ranking competition. Arunima Countryside and Resort from Tangail stood first in the competition.

Earlier on July 22, the High Court declared valid the government decision canceling the lease of 55 plots in an “ecologically critical area” in Cox`s Bazar.

The court gave the verdict rejecting 39 writ petitions challenging the legality of the government decision.

The past BNP-Jamaat alliance government in 2005 leased out 59 plots measuring around 73 acres in the Mouza, ignoring the April 19, 1999 gazette notification in this regard.

The ruling government on January 12 this year struck down the lease of 55 plots.

BDST: 1321 HRS. JULY 27, 2010.