Joint meeting on enclaves tomorrow

Bangladesh-India joint working committee on the implementation of enclave exchange will sit in Dhaka tomorrow to discuss different issues of the dwellers there.

The meeting takes places after the end of a 10-day joint survey in 162 enclaves of the two countries.

Additional Secretary Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem of the home ministry, who would attend the meeting, said,”Enclave dwellers who want to travel to India may need travel documents or passports. Besides, there are issues relating to the citizenships of those who are staying back in Bangladesh. The meeting will discuss that too.”

On July 31, the enclaves will officially be exchanged between India and Bangladesh and the residents who choose to move have to do so by November 30, as per the roadmap drawn up by the two countries.

A total of 979 enclave dwellers who have enlisted their names to move to India from Bangladesh territory will be able to travel to India from August 1 to November 30.

So far, 979 enclave dwellers have enlisted their names to go to India while none from the Indian territory is coming to Bangladesh, according to officials.

According to the 2011 census, 14,215 people live in the 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India while 37,369 people stay in the 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh.

Our Kolkata correspondent quoting P Unaganthan, district administrator of Cooch Behar, reported that survey to determine enclave land ownership would be launched soon.

Our New Delhi correspondent reports that officials of Bangladesh and India who are carrying out implementation of the enclave exchange are going to face enormous challenges regarding missing records of land ownership in the 162 enclaves.

Our Kolkata correspondent quoting Diptiman Sengupta, a member of the enclave exchange coordination committee, added that all the enclave people would torch 68 candles at the yard of their houses on July 31 midnight to celebrate their “independence”.