State Minister for Land and Hill Tracts Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin distributed prizes among trainees at Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board in Rangamati. Photo : BSS

RANGAMATI, August 23, 2026 (BSS) - State Minister for Land and Hill Tracts Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin today said everyone must work to implement Prime Minister’s declared vision of building a ‘Rainbow Nation.’

“People belonging to different ethnic communities living here must work together blending like the seven colours of a rainbow,” he said while speaking at a ceremony as the chief guest at the Maini Hall of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB) here.

The state minister said the development in the region should not be limited to infrastructure alone, unemployed youths and women must be trained and developed into human resources. The government is opening up e-commerce platforms and taking various initiatives including training programmes for the welfare of unemployed people, he added.

The state minister called upon the unemployed youths of the region to take training and develop themselves as skilled citizens and urged the authorities to expand the scope of such programmes.

He said the role of the CHTDB in improving the living standards of the people of the region would be further strengthened.

The minister said the government must work collectively to fulfill the objectives and dreams for which Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman established the CHTDB on January 14 in 1976.

CHTDB organized the event to distribute certificates among the trainees of information technology programmes, multimedia equipment to various educational institutions and sewing machines to women to promote self-employment under different schemes implemented by the board.

CHTDB Chairman Major General (rtd) Anup Kumar Chakma presided over the event.

Vice Chairman of the board Sheikh Saleh Ahmed, local Police Super Abdur Rakib, Member (Finance) Suman Barua, Member (Planning) Zahid Iqbal, local Executive Engineer Tushit Chakma, Executive Engineer of Bandarban Abu Bin Mohammad Yasir Arafat and senior officials and employees of the board were present.

At the programme, sewing machines were distributed among 50 trained women, while multimedia equipments were provided to 250 schools.

After the programme, Mir Helal inaugurated the Watch Tower at Rangamati Shishu Park.

Earlier, the minister attended a views-exchange meeting with the officials and employees of the CHTDB.