SHILLONG: The Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB) has decided to petition the Union External Minister Salman Khurshid urging him not to table the land swap Bill in the parliament.
The Bill proposes to ratify the protocol agreement signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his Dhaka tour in 2011 and seeks to pave the way for exchange of enclaves and land in adverse possession.
CCIB spokesperson GH Kharshanlor on Monday said,”We could not send the letter today but we will send it tomorrow.”
Interestingly, the External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is likely to introduce the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday and this would be the UPA Government’s third attempt to introduce the Bill.
He said that the CCIB will apprise the Union Minister not to table the Bill in the parliament even as he made it clear that the land swap bill would be opposed until proper alignment is done.
It may be mentioned that the Ministry of External Affairs had convened a meeting with AGP MPs of Assam on Monday as part of Centre’s consensus-building initiative.
According to Kharshanlor, the recent survey along the Indo-Bangla was done without the land owners being taken into confidence.
It may be recalled that the Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma following his visit as part of the Prime Ministerial delegation to Bangladesh, had announced in the State Assembly that following the land swap deal, Meghalaya stands to gain 240.578 acres while Bangladesh would get to retain about 41.702 acres of land currently under dispute.
