Enclave swap to begin after PM’s Dhaka visit

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, June 1

The process of transfer of enclaves and people between India and Bangladesh is expected to kick-start soon after the much-awaited formalisation of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dhaka this weekend.

After having got caught in the domestic quagmire for over four decades, last month Parliament unanimously ratified the LBA which paved the way to operationalise the formal exchange of enclaves held by each country in other’s geographical territory.

There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh spread over 17000 acres and according to a headcount in July 2011, over 37,000 people are residing in these areas while some 14,000 people in 51 Bangladesh enclaves in India spread over 7000 acres.

Now authorities on either side will have to determine by allowing people to exercise the option of staying where they are and taking nationality of the country to which these enclaves will be transferred or opt to legally migrate to the country on whose soil, they were technically residing.

Officials on either side will work out a timeline for the people to choose so that those who wish to migrate are given documents that will enable them to travel to the country they wish to reside after transfer of enclaves.

The Narendra Modi government plans to build upon the goodwill the passage of LBA has generated in Bangladesh. The Indian Parliament ratification came about through consensus and with the express approval of State Governments of Assam. Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal, a State that is expected to bear the maximum brunt of migration in the process.

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