Bangladesh, Nov. 24 -- The residents of Saint Martin's island located in the southernmost part of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal are deprived of basic citizen rights due to the negligence of the government in providing them with meaningful access to basic necessities, they allege.

Times are hard in the unique coral island, the only one of its kind in the country. The locals said the COVID-19 pandemic hit them with a 'double whammy' -as prices increased, at the same time incomes suffered even more than the rest of the country, as the main income earner, tourism, completely shut down.

While that should have merited special consideration from the government, the inhabitants alleged most of them did not get proper assistance from the gover...