Dhaka, Delhi set to demarcate Sonai, Kushiara

Bangladesh and India are expected to finalise the boundaries on the rivers Sonai and Kushiara in the upcoming three-day meeting between the land-record officials of the two countries beginning tomorrow in Dhaka.

‘The delegations of India and Bangladesh will also discuss fixing the boundaries of four more trans-border rivers named Ichhamati, Kalindi, Raiganga and Haribhanga,’ department of land records and survey director general Md Taslimul Islam told New Age Saturday.

But the outstanding dispute regarding the Muhurir Char on the River Muhuri  in Feni would not be discussed in the meeting, said Taslimul, who would lead the Bangladesh delegation in the meeting scheduled to be held at the state guest house Meghna.

‘The high-ups of the two governments will negotiate the issues,’ he said.

The boundaries on the remaining trans-border rivers have been fixed with India, he said.

‘The delegations will also discuss missing pillars, fixing those and keeping boundary records digitally,’ he said.

According to DLRS officials, Bangladesh and India share at least 54 trans-border rivers, including the Ganges and Teesta.

They said that the DLRS kept records of the 3,800-kilometre-long border with four Indian states named Pashchimbanga, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.

The Survey of Bangladesh keeps record of Bangladesh’s 360-kilometre-long border with the Indian state of Mizoram, they added.

The officials said that the number of missing border pillars was about 5,000 while about 4,000 boundary pillars carried the name of Pakistan even after 48 years of independence.

They said that about 1,000 pillars with the names of Pakistan had recently been replaced with pillars having the name of Bangladesh.       

They also said that the delegations of the two countries in the three-day meeting would discuss methods of digitally recording the demarcation pillars.

They said that the Bangladesh team, in addition to its leader Taslimul Islam, would comprise the director general of the Survey of Bangladesh and representatives of the Border Guard of Bangladesh, the home affairs ministry and the foreign affairs ministry.

The 18-member Indian team, they said, will be led by surveyor general of India Major General Girish Kumar, directors of five sectors of the survey department of the five Indian states which share common boundaries with Bangladesh and representatives of the Border Security Force and other agencies.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net