Lalmonirhat, Oct 20 —Various shortfalls still overshadow the 'freedom' of Dahagram-Angarpota enclave residents.
As the enclave residents celebrate their long-awaited 24-hour access to the mainland, the question still haunting their mind is: "How long will it take them to be really free; free as other citizens of Bangladesh?"
The Tin Bigha corridor, connecting the enclave with the mainland, has been opened round-the-clock since Sep 8. The residents of the locality, bound by the clock for over six decades, can now frequent the mainland on their wish.
During the Wednesday's visit of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, they got a chance to finally see her in close-up, adding to their celebration of freedom.
However, even such joys cannot make them shake off their helplessness from their minds.
A 60-plus Rahima Begum, easily differentiable from the thousands crowding Dahagram School grounds by her age, her wrinkles and her walking stick, now has only one hope.
"I was born amid lack of freedom-like situation, I grew up in it, and now my time is nearly up. Now I only hope the next generation will get the taste of what I never knew," she said.
While the prime minister herself gave them that assurance, other enclave residents echo Rahima Begum's sentiments.
"A lot of problems are still there. We'll really be free once they are addressed," Sardarpara village's Shukkur Ali said.
"Many Hindu families went off to India permanently due to the various problems of the enclave," Ali, a rickshaw-van puller by profession, added.
Former member of Dahagram union council, Mohammad Yunus Ali, said problems still exist.
"I own around 15-bigha [1 bigha = 0.3306 acres] land. But the land has no registration with the Bangladesh government. Since the taxes for the land are unpaid or there is no government-backed proof of my ownership, I can't sell it."
Mentioning that temporary markets are held at Patgram in the mainland on Thursdays and Mondays, Ali said: "We [enclave residents] are allowed to take only 30 cattle to sell at the markets each week using the corridor."
Ghatiatari village resident Majidul Islam pointed out the same problem. "We have to take serial numbers from the local chairman to cross with the cattle. But that takes months. As a result, we cannot sell them when we wish to."
He said the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) has set up high-powered spotlights and that they would illuminate around one square mile of the area. "Insects and pests, attracted by the light, will harm the crops."
Majidul also wants power connection, a good college and presence of doctors at the newly-built health complex in the enclave.
Nonetheless, enclave residents like Ali, Yunus and Majidul are happy to be able to freely access the corridor all the time.
"There was a 6pm deadline to return home in the past. Now, since it's no longer there, we can work longer," Ali said.
He added that before the corridor was opened round-the-clock, they were forced to go to India's Mekliganj to buy essentials.
"I was assaulted several times by Indians and also had to serve jail-term. And if we needed to sell anything, we had to send it to India by requesting and begging our Hindu neighbours for help."
The Dahagram-Angarpota enclave, which falls under Lalmonirhat's Patgram Upazila, cover 18.68 square kilometres and houses around 16,000 people.
India leased the Tin Bigha corridor to Bangladesh through the 1974 treaty, signed between Bangladesh's independence architect and then president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi.
On June 26, 1992, the lease agreement was implemented and Bangladeshis could access the corridor, heavily guarded by the BSF, for only an hour a day. The duration was extended to 12 hours, from 7.30 am to 7.30pm, from Apr 27, 2001.
There are 111 Indian enclaves within the Bangladesh territory while 51 Bangladeshi enclaves lie inside India. A newly-signed protocol between the two neighbours provides for exchanging the enclaves, in line with the 1974 treaty, and addresses issues like the six-kilometre unmarked border and snatched land areas.
news details from:www.bdnews24.com
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