CM Kajawl :The implementation of Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between Bangladesh and India crossed the final constitutional barrier when Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, unanimously passed the constitution amendment bill to this end on Thursday. External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj placed the bill before Lok Sabha to bring the 119th amendment to the Constitution with a view to ratifying the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA). All the 331 members present in the House voted for the bill. Soon after the passage, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked up to the Opposition benches to thank the leaders including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.With the ratification of LBA, the both countries will be able to exchange the 162 enclaves, solve the disputes of adversely possessed areas and demarcate the un-demarcated borders between Bangladesh and four Indian states – West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura.The agreement will come into effect as soon as the Indian President gives his assent to the bill. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Sheikh Hasina soon after the passage of the bill. He conveyed his greetings to the people of Bangladesh on the occasion of the ratification of long pending issue.”I spoke to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and conveyed my good wishes on this landmark occasion,” Modi said in his twitter post.Sheikh Hasina also expressed her gratitude to Modi on behalf of Bangladesh.After the passage of the bill, Sushma Swaraj said it would be beneficial for both countries. “We want to send a message that we are all united on Bangladesh issues. We want to stand by Bangladesh like 1971,” she said. With regards to the demarcation of land boundaries, Sushma Swaraj said eighty percent of India’s border with Bangladesh is demarcated and fenced, and once the LBA is implemented, the remaining part of the border would also be defined and fenced.India would sort out the Teesta river water-sharing issue with Bangladesh in the same spirit in which it has sorted out the settlement of maritime and land boundaries, she said. Earlier, the bill was cleared by the Indian cabinet and Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, respectively on May 5 and May 6. The LBA was signed by the governments of Bangladesh and India in Indian capital New Delhi on May 16, 1974 to solve the long-standing disputes between the two neighbouring countries including the exchange of enclaves. Later, a protocol was also signed in this regard in September, 2011 but the agreement was not implemented due to the constitutional bars on part of India. Under this agreement Bangladesh will get possession of 111 enclaves located inside Bangladesh with 17,158 acres of land. The enclaves are spread across four districts in Bangladesh (59 in Lalmonirhat, 36 in Panchagarh, 12 in Kurigram and four in Nilphamari).Bangladeshi will transfer to India 51 enclaves, all located in Cooch Behar of West Bengal, with an area of 7,110 acres of land.The exchange of enclaves will solve the multifarious problems, including problem of national identity, of 51, 584 residents (37,369 people of India and 14,215 people of Bangladesh) of 162 enclaves either side of India and Bangladesh. In respect of adversely possessed land, India will get 2,777.038 acres and transfer 2,267.682 acres to Bangladesh.The news of the Indian initiative to ratify the LBA brought immense joy among 51 thousand people of 162 enclaves in Bangladesh and India as they took it as their emancipation from the captivity of 68 years. The enclave dwellers hoisted bicolor Bangladeshi national flag for the first time on their own lands inside Bangladesh. As soon as the news spread, people of all ages including women and chidren come out of their houses and hugged each other to share their delights in different enclaves. The General Secretary of the Lalmonirhat unit of Bangladesh Bharat Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC) Azizul Islam thanked the governments of Bangladesh and India for their efforts to swap the 162 enclaves. “We suffered a lot in the last 68 years. We led our lives like stateless persons. We were deprived of our fundamental rights. Hopefully, our plights will go away now,” he said.
