979 new Indians to get ID cards

As many as 979 residents of 111 former Indian enclaves, who chose Indian nationality, are going to get temporary identity cards/travel passes for travelling across the border.

According to a Land Boundary Agreement, all 979 residents would have to cross over to India through designated check posts between August 1 and November 30. However, they can now visit India using these passes before the deadline.

The Indian high commission in Dhaka along with its assistant high commission in Rajshahi would distribute the passes at special camps in Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat and Kurigram on Monday and Tuesday.

The first camp at Debiganj upazila rest house in Panchagarh would be inaugurated by Pankaj Saran, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, at 10:00am tomorrow, says a press release of the Indian mission.

According to an Indo-Bangla joint survey report disclosed on July 20, the 979 residents of the 111 enclaves inside Bangladesh chose India, while none from the 51 enclaves in India wanted to come to Bangladesh.

Ending decades of wait, 51 Bangladeshi enclaves inside India and 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh were attached to their respective countries at midnight on July 31.

With this, 51,584 inhabitants of 162 enclaves inside Bangladesh and India got the taste of freedom for the first time in 68 years, officially becoming citizens of either of the two countries.

The historic Land Boundary Agreement between Bangladesh and India was signed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indira Gandhi in 1974.

As it was finally implemented on July 31 midnight, some 17,160 acres of land within Bangladesh became the part of it, while nearly 7,110 acres of land of 52 Bangladeshi enclaves within India became the part of that country.