Rendezvous for relatives
The occasion of Ganga Puja in the Maldah river was an opportunity for poor people like Minoti Bala Sarkar to make a sentimental visit to India as Ghongagachh border in Kaliganj upazila was kept open for a few hours yesterday for the event.
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Indian Border Security Force (BSF) took tight security measures when the border gate was kept open for five hours from 9:00am.
Both Bangladeshi and Indian people took a dip in the river and met each other to exchange views but they were not allowed to exchange gifts.
Locals said the bordering people's annual reunion on the occasion of Ganga Puja has been continuing at the border since the Liberation War.
The puja has also become a border-bond fair as the BSF temporarily opens the gate for union of relatives, they said.
Minoti Bala Sarkar, 58, wife of Nabin Chandra Sarkar of Chaparhat village was seen waiting on the border in the morning to meet her daughter Niyoti Rani Sarker, 35, who lives in India.
She broke down in tears on seeing her daughter across the barbed wire fence on the Indian side. They met after three years, so her daughter was also emotional.
Babar Ali, a member of Burirhat BGB camp, said over 3000 Bangladeshis from different villages in Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Gaibandha took part in the border-bond fair.
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