As they lose patience, former enclave residents, who are presently living in the enclave settlement camp in Dinhata in Cooch Behar district, have sought help from Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya, who is also a member of the standing committee for External Affairs, in drawing the Centre’s attention to the several problems that the settlers are still facing.

Convenor of the Indian Enclave United Council (IEUC) Mijanur Rahman, who used to live in the Dasiar Chhara enclave and who decided to settle down in India after the enclave was incorporated with Bangladesh during the enclave exchange process on 31 July, 2015, is virtually upset. Mr Rahman, who sometimes recalls his memories back in the village where he was born and brought up, now says he regrets his decision to settle down on the Indian side, as his, along with the many others, future has become uncertain.

In a letter he wrote to Mr Bhattacharya yesterday, Mr Rahman says: “The entire situation should be reviewed after visiting the three settlement camps in Cooch Behar district, as people now living there had dreamed about India and the bright future here and decided to settle down in the Indian part leaving all their belongings there, which is now Bangladesh.” Citing an example, he points out once case where one Surotan Bewa has settled in India, but her family members are ‘languishing’ in Bangladesh for the past two years after the execution of the enclave exchange programme.

“There are many instances like Bewa, and authorities should resolve such problems on an emergency basis,” Mr Rahman says. The former enclave residents have not been able to sell off their plots of land they own in Bangladesh, while many such plots have now been allegedly grabbed by others.

The letter says that a section of people, who lived in the Indian enclaves on the Bangladesh side, could not take part in the enclave
exchange process as they were left out of the Census conducted in 2011.

According to the IEUC, around 500 such families could not take part in the exchange process and their applications are gathering dust in the Cooch Behar district magistrate’s office.

The IEUC has also demanded recasting of joint families in the settlement camp and permanent settlements with agricultural land for their livelihood. It has further demanded that the passport rules be made lenient for them so that they can visit their motherland and try to sell their property they had left behind.

Notably, Mr Bhattacharya had said during his recent visit to Siliguri that he wanted to raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha. “A lot of funds were allotted for execution of the enclave exchange programme and rehabilitation.However, now I am receiving information that rehabilitation has not been executed properly.