INDO-BANGLA LAND SWAP : People opting for India start leaving Bangladesh [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

INDO-BANGLA LAND SWAP : People opting for India start leaving Bangladesh

Local November 20, 2015

Sixty-three people from former Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh territory moved to India Thursday afternoon through the Burimari land port in the first part of such movement following the transfer of territories in adverse possession between the two countries over three and a half months back.
Many of them, including women and children, expressed mixed reactions as some broke down in tears at the border point while leaving behind their birthplaces, homesteads and many friends and fellows after a long 68 years of ‘confined living’.
‘We were confined to a piece of Indian land inside Bangladesh. Being an Indian citizen, I feel proud of getting this opportunity today to get into the mainland and settle there for the rest of my life,’ said Tarak Chandra Barman, 82, at the border.
He, however, said he was at the same time feeling sad to say goodbye to friends and relatives with whom he had spent a long time.
Officials from Indian High Commission in Dhaka and local administrations and several thousands of locals were present at the moment of parting at the land port.
Indian officials received the people, who travelled to the mainland on the other side of the border at Changrabandha under Cooch Bihar.
The people from the now-defunct enclaves of Uttar Gotamari and Lotamari, who earlier opted to retain Indian citizenship, travelled to India with their belongings, which included household things, to settle over there.
‘Sixty three people from erstwhile Indian enclaves have moved to India through Burimari border under the local administration’s arrangements although initially 67 people were slated to travel to their mainland on the first day,’ Lalmonirhat deputy commissioner Md Habibur Rahman told New Age.
He said the local administrations made all necessary arrangements including transport facility for smooth movement of the people from the Indian enclaves of Uttar Gutamari and Latamari in Lalmonirhat.
He said 84 more were expected to move to India from the now-defunct Indian enclaves under the district on November 23.
A total of 979 people were set to move to India by November 30, said the DC. He, however, said the number might go down as some are now unwilling to move to India.
The cross-border movement of people through official coordination was the first of its kind in the history of the subcontinent since the 1947 Partition of India, according to officials.
Additional security measures were taken to check any untoward incidents due to the dawn to dusk general strike called by Jamaat-e-Islam for Thursday, said officials.
Bangladesh handed over its 51 enclaves located in Cooch Bihar to India and took over 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh from August 1 under the land boundary agreement signed between the two countries in 1974 to end the miseries of around 56,000 people.
A total of 39,621 people out of over 40,600 living in 111 enclaves inside Bangladesh sought to become Bangladesh citizens while 979 of them opted to retain Indian citizenship, according to a joint survey conducted in July 6-16 for the land swap.
The entry and exit points are Chilahati-Haldibari, Burimari-Changrabandha and Banglabandha-Phulbari checkpoints on the Bangladesh-India border, according to a home ministry circular issued earlier.
None from the formerly Bangladesh enclaves in India with the number of population there being around 15,000 had opted to move to their mainland.
An enclave resident who wishes to move to his or her mainland is supposed to complete all formalities between August 1 and November 30, 2015 as set out in the modalities for the implementation of the LBA.
The erstwhile Indian enclaves are located in Bangladesh’s northern districts of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Panchagarh and all the Bangladesh enclaves are in Cooch Behar of West Bengal.