The long-standing dispute over the administrative jurisdiction of Bhasan Char has finally been resolved, with the land ministry deciding that six mouzas of the island belong to Chattogram’s Sandwip upazila.
The ministry's decision comes after years of territorial tension between the residents of Chattogram’s Sandwip and Noakhali’s Hatiya. On January 15, land ministry’s survey branch issued a letter to the relevant authorities, directing them to take necessary actions following the new decision.
According to the official letter issued on January 13, signed by Ibrahim Miazi, assistant secretary of the land ministry, the decision was based on rigorous scientific data.
The inter-district technical team conducted a field visit to Bhasan Char on November 19 last year and collected precise coordinate data using GPS.
To ensure accuracy, the committee used geo-referencing to superimpose the latitude and longitude data from the CS (cadastral survey) maps of Sandwip onto modern Google satellite imagery. This digital mapping clearly demonstrated that all six mouzas of Bhasan Char geographically align with the historical boundaries of Sandwip.
The dispute intensified in 2017 when the then government issued a gazette notification placing Bhasan Char under Hatiya’s jurisdiction, triggering widespread social movement and protest among Sandwip’s residents.
Following the fall of the Awami League government, the executive branch took steps to resolve the issue as per court directives. An 18-member technical committee was formed, comprising government officials and professionals from both Chattogram and Noakhali districts. The committee included the additional divisional commissioner of Chattogram, zonal settlement officers, and deputy commissioners of both districts, along with three professionals each from Sandwip and Hatiya upazilas.
The technical committee reached its conclusion after an extensive review of historical documents, CS (cadastral survey) and RS (revisional survey) records, and analysis of satellite imagery, said the office of Chattogram divisional commissioner.
Md Ziauddin, divisional commissioner of Chattogram, confirmed that the committee submitted its final report to the land ministry in the first week of December. “After reviewing the report, the ministry decided that six mouzas of Bhasan Char are part of Sandwip. The ministry's survey branch issued a formal instruction on January 15 to implement this decision,” he said.
The divisional commissioner added that he received a copy of the official letter on Thursday.
Bhasan Char, an island formed by Himalayan silt in the Bay of Bengal, gained global attention after the Bangladesh government constructed a massive housing project there to relocate Rohingya refugees from the congested camps in Cox's Bazar.
