Indo-Bangla land swap deal
SHILLONG: With the joint survey of officials of both Meghalaya and Bangladesh continuing since November 16 at the border, the process of demarcating the land to be officially possessed by Meghalaya and Bangladesh will be finalized by January next following which the erection of boundary pillars will be completed by March.
The two nations signed a protocol and exchanged instruments of ratification to make operational the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) in Dhaka in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina in June this year.
According to the first report of the Standing Committee on External Affairs, areas in adverse possession to be acquired by Meghalaya amounted to 240.578 acres.
These include Pyrdiwah (193.516 acres), Lyngkhat I (4.793 acres), Lyngkhat II (0.758 acres), Lyngkhat III (6.94 acres), Dawki/Tamabil (1.557 acres), Naljuri I (6.156 acres) and Naljuri II (26.858 acres).
However, under the deal, Meghalaya will have to transfer 41.702 acres of land in the Lobacherra-Nuncherra sector to Bangladesh.
A senior government official said on Monday that the joint survey to demarcate the areas of adverse possession began on November 16.
“After the completion of the demarcation of areas of adverse possessions by January, the process of erection of boundary pillars will start to be completed by March”, the official added.
According to the official, once the boundary pillars are erected, this will bring an end to long pending border dispute with Bangladesh.
In the absence of proper demarcation of many areas of adverse possession in the border, several stretches of land are scattered both in Meghalaya and Bangladesh.
While one half of a football field at Lyngkhat is in India , the other half is in Bangladesh, so also several agricultural lands.
