Indians pay revenue of land, Bangladeshis reap benefits

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: Incredible but true! Indians pay revenue for their lands, but Bangladeshis cultivate the lands and reap benefits. It is like living as aliens on their land.

This queer situation is in the Lathitila Dumabari area under the Patharkandi constituency in the Karimganj district. Despite strong public opposition and combined protest from saffron outfits, 2 km and 700 metres of land from pillars No. 1397 to 1400 owned by 22 poor farmers were virtually gifted away to Bangladesh in 2014.

The cries and dissenting voices of the poor farmers continue to get ignored. The farmers question on what basis India gave their lands to Bangladeshis. They have not got compensation for the land lost, yet they pay revenue to the Assam government. They continue to protest, but their voice goes unheard. Local Congress leader Sachin Sahu wanted to take the landowners to the border area. However, BSF men at the Lathitila outpost did not allow them to proceed.

Then they decided to stage a protest demonstration at the Lathitila BSF outpost, demanding either the return of their land or payment of due compensation. They also want to know if the Government of India has transferred their land in question to Bangladesh. If so, why should the Centre keep them in uncertainty? The lands in question are ancestral of the farmers. Why should they pay revenue to the Assam government?

According to information, during the Indo-Pak war of 1965, Lathitila Dumabari was the scene of an encounter between Indian and Pakistani forces. The Pakistani Ar,y seized the BSF outpost. The land area is the focal point of controversy. The landowners continue to pay revenue with the hope that one day they will get their lands.

It is also relevant to note that in 2000 the landowners met the then Union Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani. It was at Advani's intervention that stopped the barbed wire fencing along the particular stretch of Lathitila Dumabari. It was kept open. In 2014, to settle the border row with Bangladesh, the Government of India gave 1,200 bighas of land to the neighbouring country. Advani was in favour of the restoration of land to the land losers.

The landowners are Jagardev Rajbhar, Atowari Goalini, Dashrath Goala, Ram Prasad Bhar, Jaihind Kairi, Harinandan Goala, Tribhuvan Upadhyay, Ramkrishna Kairi, Lakshaman Goala, Ramdhani Kairi, Ramlakshman Nunia, Deonarayan Nunia, Markhanda Khandait, Ramnami Khandait, Kera Chasa, Nagendra Das and Gaya Bhar. They submitted a representation to the Deputy Commissioner of Karimganj recently to consider their demand for the return of the land.

Also Read: Six Bangladeshis arrested in Tripura border

Also watch: