The holy month of Ramzan has brought hope to thousands of enclave dwellers in West Bengal’s Coochbehar district with the Trinamool Congress leadership reaching out to them and assuring them that a solution to the six-decade-old crisis is in sight.
Trinamool Congress district president and Parliamentary Secretary to the West Bengal Government Rabindranath Ghosh was present at an iftar party at Mosaldanga, the largest group of enclaves on the Indian side of the international border on Friday evening.
Speaking to The Hindu over phone on Saturday, Mr. Ghosh said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is “serious about the solution to the issue of enclaves, so that that thousands of Stateless people can get citizenship rights”.
The development comes ahead of secretary-level talks between India and Bangladesh to be held here in August, to which the Centre urged the State government to send its representatives.
Earlier, the Trinamool Congress expressed reservation against exchange of enclaves. The party had opposed a constitutional amendment bill envisaging the exchange of enclaves that was introduced in Parliament in 2013.
During his visit to the enclaves, Mr. Ghosh asked a 78-year-old enclave dweller Mansur Ali, whose last wish was to die as an Indian citizen, to wait for a few more months.
“The problem of enclaves will be sorted out at the earliest. But there are some issues that need to be resolved. One is that the rehabilitation of these people would require about Rs. 500 crore, which should be taken care of by the Centre,” the Trinamool leader told this correspondent.
While 51 Bangladeshi enclaves with about 14,000 residents are located deep in inside Indian territory in the State’s Coochbehar district, 111 Indian enclaves with a population of about 38,000 are located in four districts of Bangladesh.
Mr. Ghosh also pointed out that the transfer of 51 Bangladeshi enclaves to India will provide 7,000 acres to the country, but the country will lose 17,000 acres if the 111 enclaves are handed over to Bangladesh.
“We on the part of Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC), the largest organisation working in the enclaves, assure both the Union and State governments that the people living in these areas will extend all kind of support when it comes to solving the problem,” Diptiman Sengupta, BBEECC assistant secretary, said.
“We are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the secretary-level talks,” he added.
After a State Cabinet meeting at Uttarkanya in north Bengal on June 2, Ms Banerjee had said, “In case of certain enclaves, whose handing over will not create problems, we are discussing the matter.”
