On one side, when India and Bangladesh were signing the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) in Dhaka on Saturday, thousands of jubilant villagers living in Indian enclaves under Bangladesh and vice versa were listening on radio sets, the historic accord being signed on Saturday.
Soon after the news broke, thousands of people residing in these enclaves raised pro India and Bangladesh slogans. They exchanged sweets and burst in to tears for finally getting an identity after more than 40 years.
Now, with the signing of the accord, there will be some changes in the Indian map too. Also, the enclaves are going to witness lots of activities with officials from the Home Ministry, External Affairs and land surveyors already being geared to initiate the process of demarcation and giving identity to these people, who have claimed Saturday’s achievement as their independence day.
Hundreds of men, women and children at Kurigram, Kalihat Bazar, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Panchagarh village were seen hugging each other. They also brought out rally, and hoisted the Indian and Bangladeshi flags to celebrate their ‘independence’.
Though India has failed to resolve the Teesta issue, both the countries have resolved 41-year-old border dispute of enclaves on Saturday. Foreign Secretaries of both the countries have signed and exchanged the Instruments of Exchange in the presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and his counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
Under LBA, India will have to transfer 111 enclaves (land with people belonging to Bangladesh but encircled by Indian Territory) measuring 17, 160.63 acres to Bangladesh and will receive from Bangladesh 51 enclaves measuring 7,110.2 acres. In addition, India will acquire 2777.038 acres adverse possession areas and transfer 2267.682 acres adverse possession areas to Bangladesh.
In terms of population, India has to bear the responsibility of nearly 14,215 people (as per the government statistics, which might be increased subject to villagers request on where they want to stay). On the other side, Bangladesh has to take care of nearly 37,369 people.
Terming June 6, 2015 as an “Independence Day” for these villagers, Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC), Deeptiman Sengupta said, “We welcome the initiative taken by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. This will be a boon for several villagers who do not have their identity even after so many years of Independence.”
He said, “Now, the government should focus on how to rehabilitate the villagers by setting up a monitoring body to look in to the whole affairs and cost required besides formalities in the foreign affairs level. There should be a Gram Panchayat, which will execute the process of handing over voter ID cards to the villagers with help of local election body,” he said.