Army begins road construction in remote Jungle Salimpur

The Bangladesh Army has started road construction in Jungle Salimpur under Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram, a remote area surrounded by hills and forests. The 34 Engineer Construction Brigade is initially constructing four roads in the area.

A unit under the brigade formally began work on Monday, June 8. Before starting construction, Lieutenant Colonel Md Kamrul Al Masud visited the site of an under-construction road in the hilly area, three kilometres east of Aligar in Jungle Salimpur, and later spoke to journalists.

He said a road will be built from the Chhinamul area to Alinagar High School. Another road will be built from Alinagar through the textile area to the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. A road from Alinagar will connect to the Chattogram-Khagrachhari highway via the Bangladesh Military Academy. Additionally, another internal road is planned within Jungle Salimpur.

No specific budget has been approved for the project yet. Work has started on an emergency basis following directives from high-level government authorities. The army has extensive experience in constructing roads in remote, hilly and challenging areas, and work has commenced based on that experience.

Jungle Salimpur has been known as one of the country's most crime-prone and inaccessible areas for decades. In the 1990s, a criminal named Ali Akkas first entered the area, occupied hilly khas land and began establishing illegal settlements. He also formed an armed force to maintain control. Later, a large illegal land business developed there, where plots were sold at nominal prices through non-judicial stamps under the guise of rehabilitation for river erosion victims and low-income displaced people.

On January 19, a RAB-7 Deputy Assistant Director, Nayeb Subedar Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan, was killed in an attack by criminals during an operation in Jungle Salimpur. Following this, a massive joint forces raid was conducted on March 9 to evict criminal hideouts and establish administrative control. Approximately 4,000 personnel from the army, police, RAB, BGB and APBN took part in the operation, and a permanent joint forces camp was later established in the area.

On May 24, armed criminals launched an attack on the joint forces camp in Jungle Salimpur. Police and RAB returned fire, forcing the attackers to retreat. However, the attackers had earlier bulldozed an under-construction law enforcement camp at the site.