Talks to resolve border row

Talks to resolve border row

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Nov. 9 — A three-member Bangladesh team today held a meeting with their Indian counterparts at Farakka in Murshidabad to resolve the border dispute between the two countries, the Malda DM told reporters. Authorities said Indian officials of the directorate of Indo-Bangladesh border demarcation wing (DIBBDW) discussed damaged demarcation pillars with the Bangladesh officials.The deputy secretary, Mr Dipankar Roy Choudhuri, from West Bengal’s DIBBDW department led the Indian team to discuss the recent dispute related to the border line located in Malda and Mushidabad districts, officials said. The Bangladeshi team was led by Mr Abu Hyder Sardar.Though it was a routine meeting between the two countries, the recent dispute in the Muchia and Adampur border outposts that led to a gun battle between the Indian and Bangladeshi border guards would also be discussed, a senior government official said.It may be noted that the Union water resources development minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, took the initiative to conduct an aerial survey to resolve the border dispute in the Adampur and Muchia border outposts on the issue of bank line protection on the banks of the river Mahananda. But the programme has been deferred, sources said.On the other hand, the district administration after conducting a survey on the basis of the map of the Indo Bangladesh border along the Mahananda river has already stated their stand and position of the border to the DIBBDW for consideration.“The Indian officials have already requested the Bangladeshi officials to reconstruct the ‘damaged identification pillars’ setting a 15 December deadline this year. If they fail to begin the reconstruction job, we will begin it with their help”, Mr Abhijit Choudhuri, the district magistrate of Malda, said.There are many damaged identification pillars on the border line but they are yet to be reconstructed despite several reminders to the Bangladesh authorities in the past few years, he claimed.A few months ago, the Indian officials have discovered that the river Mahananda has eroded nearly 400 acres on the Indian side and the river has changed course deviating from the demarcated line fixed in 2002, a senior district official said.Bangladeshis are using many Indian lands which have come up on their side following a change in the river course, officials said.The CPWD is understood to have deferred payment of compensation for eroded land and stopped construction of barbed fencing wire in the Muchia border area owing to the dispute. They are waiting for resolution of the dispute, according to the officials.