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Failed promises:Some enclave dwellers want to return to B'desh

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Press Trust of India Cooch Behar (WB)
Last Updated : Aug 07 2016 | 8:57 AM IST
A year after enclave dwellers got Indian citizenship, several of these people want to go back to Bangladesh as they are miffed over the lack of job and other opportunities in India.
Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs Pradip Bhattacharya said several enclave dwellers, who came to Indian enclaves after August 1, 2015, have expressed their desire to go back to Bangladesh.
"I have received reports of enclave dwellers who had come from Bangladesh and had settled in Indian enclaves wanting to go back to Bangladesh due to lack of job and other basic opportunities. This is a matter of serious concern. I will inquire the matter with the union home department," Bhattacharya, who is also a senior Congress MP from Bengal, told PTI.
"Apart from lack of job opportunities, the enclave dwellers are also complaining that they are being deprived of other government schemes," he said.
Bangladesh and India exchanged 162 adversely-held enclaves on August 1, 2015, ending one of the world's most complex border disputes that had lingered since seven decades. One hundred and eleven Indian enclaves measuring 17,160 acres became Bangladesh territory and similarly, 51 Bangladesh enclaves measuring 7,110 acres became Indian territory.
All the Indian enclaves are located in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district. The 51 enclaves are spread across Dinhata, Mekliganj, Sitai, Sitalkuchi and Toofanganj assembly constituencies.

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With the implementation of The Indo-Bangla Land Border Agreement last year, 14,864 residents of 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India became Indian citizens, while 921 residents of Indian enclaves in Bangladesh migrated to Indian part of enclaves.
"Those who have come from Indian enclaves which were
situated in Bangladesh are feeling alienated here. They don't have either any job opportunities or any proper source of income. How will they secure their future? So they feel that going back to Bangladesh is the best option to secure their future," Sengupta told

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First Published: Aug 07 2016 | 8:57 AM IST

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