SHILLONG: Members of the Coordination Committee of International Border (CCIB) on Monday ‘inspected’ the border pillars along the International border at Dawki and also met residents of several villages in the area.
During the meeting with the villagers, the CCIB informed that upon inspection of the pillars it was found that several portions of land which were earlier in Indian territory had now gone to Bangladesh post the September 6, 2011 Land Boundary Agreement between the two nations.
“Upon inspection from pillar no 1252 to 1299 we have found that a lot of land which was earlier with India has now gone to Bangladesh,” CCIB member MF Ryngksai told the gathering.
It may be mentioned that India and Bangladesh had signed a deal to swap enclaves and areas of adverse possessions to resolve their decades-old border dispute.
The enclaves are islands of land resulting from traditional ownership arrangements that survived both the partition of the sub-continent after the end of British rule in 1947 and Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
Meanwhile, FKJGP president Joe Marwein and KSU president Daniel Khyriem in their address during the meeting urged the villagers not to accept the land swap deal signed with Bangladesh in September 2011 as the boundary issue with the neighbouring country is yet to be fully resolved.
“The total land under adverse possession is 559.70 acres. If 240.5 acres came to Meghalaya and 41.7 to Bangladesh, what about the remaining 278 acres of land?” the CCIB members asked adding that a clarification was needed in this regard.
Earlier, the CCIB refused to accept the decision to fence the border along the Zero Line in the Meghalaya sector.
