GUWAHATI, Dec 15 � Though a decision was taken between India and Bangladesh at the highest level to solve the problems of adverse possessions along the international border through joint surveys, the survey work has been hitting roadblocks due to non cooperation by the neighbouring country.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that during the last visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to New Delhi in January this year, a decision was taken to solve the problems of adverse possessions through joint surveys in a time bound manner. The joint border working group of both the countries met in Delhi on November 10 to finalize the schedule for the joint surveys. It was decided in the meeting that the surveyors from both the countries would carry out the joint survey of the adverse possession of land. The meeting further decided that the personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) would not be involved in the process of survey and they would only provide security to the surveyors.
As per the decision of the meeting, the joint survey started in the first week of this month, but the process has been hitting road blocks due to the non cooperation by Bangladesh. The survey went on as scheduled in the Boraibari area in Mankachar in Dhubri district where around 189 acres of Indian land is in adverse possession of Bangladesh as well as in Lubshachera in Meghalaya, where around 37 acres of Indian land is in adverse possession of Bangladesh.
But the trouble started in the Pyrdwah area in Meghalaya where around 320 acres of land of Bangladesh is in adverse possession of India. Official sources said that the BDR personnel have been providing roadblocks in the way of joint surveys in the area frequently. On some occasions, the surveyor of Bangladesh did not reach the spot during the scheduled time and in some cases, the BDR personnel ventured into the Indian territory and apparently, the BDR also encouraged Bangladeshi nationals to enter into Indian territory to create disturbance to stall the survey work. Such action by the BDR created tension in the area and the BSF personnel are having a tough time in maintaining peace in Pyrdwah. However, so far, the personnel of the Indian border guarding force have been exercising restraint and not opened fire on the Bangladeshi people who ventured into Indian territory, sources added.
The same kind of problem also took place in Lynghat where around 23 acres of Bangladeshi land is in adverse possession of India and there also the BDR has been creating trouble and the survey could not be carried out.
It may be mentioned here that the failure of the Governments of India and Bangladesh to settle the problem of adverse possessions have been creating trouble along the international border for years and in 1996, the BSF camp in Pyrdwah was attacked by Bangladesh Army personnel, while, 16 BSF personnel were killed in Boraibari. Apart from these two major incidents, there have also been a number of instances of firing between the border guarding forces of both the countries in the adverse possession areas and the people living in the area have been forced to live under constant fear. The Government of India has also not been able to construct border roads and fencing in the areas till the problem is sorted, which affected border management.
In the Assam-Meghalaya frontier alone, around 551 acres of Bangladeshi land is in adverse possession of India and around 222 acres of Indian land is under adverse possession of Bangladesh.
