Bhasan Char


Bhasan Char, also known as Char Piya, is an island in Sandwip Upazila, Bangladesh. It is located in the Bay of Bengal, 37 miles from the coast.
The island was formed with Himalayan silt in 2006. It spans. It is under water from June to September annually because of the monsoon, and it has no flood fences. There are no roads on the island.
In June 2015, the Bangladeshi government suggested resettling Rohingya refugees on the island. The proposal was characterized by the United Nations Refugee Agency as "logistically challenging". On January 26, 2017, the Bangladeshi government ordered their resettlement nonetheless. Human Rights Watch called it "a human rights and humanitarian disaster in the making".
In August 2019, the government announced an expansion of the Ashrayan Project, to build 100-thousand homes.
The houses are built four feet above the ground, in order to protect the refugees from high tidal waves.
The public works have amounted to 309.5 million takas, a 34% increase from the initial allocation. The additional projects include raising the embankment from to, and construction of cluster villages, shelter stations, water channeling infrastructure, roads and land development, in addition to the existing 26 works under the project.
In January 2020, the project was moving forward despite opposition from Rohingya leaders and human rights groups. Bangladesh's minister for refugee affairs stated the island is “ready for habitation,” though he gave no timetable for the relocation. The government has not permitted foreign journalists or Rohingya leaders to travel to Bhasan Char. The island is less than 20 years old, and some think there is no guarantee that it will not disappear in the next monsoon.