Dhubri, May 8: A large number of villagers along the Indo-Bangladesh border under Golokganj sector in Dhubri district today asked the government to purchase their lands, rather than risk losing it to Bangladesh.
They said after the passing of the land-swap deal in Parliament, nearly 193.85 acres of land of Boroibari under Mancachar of Dhubri district, would be handed over to Bangladesh shortly.
This piece of land was under the adverse possession of Bangladesh for nearly 41 years. However, no part of border land in Golokganj sector of Dhubri district is disputed or in adverse possession of Bangladesh.
The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill, on the land boundary agreement between India and Bangladesh, paving the way for permanent settlement of the border dispute between the two countries. The villagers alleged that despite being the owners of the land, they could hardly cultivate it or obtain any profit.
The Nagarik Unnayan Mancha has been protesting against the land-swap deal since 2011 and demanding the government to purchase the land that falls outside the barbed wire fencing.
Former Golokganj legislator and president of the Mancha, Dinesh Chandra Sarkar, said there was no use keeping the land outside the fence, as the BSF allowed them to cultivate it only within a stipulated time.
"Border villagers whose lands fall outside the fence have to collect a token to access their lands through the border gates manned by the BSF and have to return before sunset," Sarkar said.
The secretary of the organisation and resident of Bishkhowa border village, Gauranga Choudhury, expressed his fear of losing the land and said they were no longer interested in keeping their land outside the fence.
"Who knows that someday another turn of events will take away our precious land without our consent? So it is better that the government purchases our land and does whatever it wants to do with it," Choudhury added.
Most of the villagers of Bishkhowa, Jaskal, Sonahat, Kedar, Satrasal and Nalia, located nearly 300km from Guwahati, rued and alleged that normally they guard their cultivable land overnight till the harvesting of paddy.
In case of "this land" they were totally dependent on the BSF and they have been facing losses as 40 per cent of the paddy is found to be already harvested by Bangladeshis.
Local BJP leaders claimed that this land-swap deal will end the 41-year-old dispute and Assam will gain from it.
Protests against the land-swap deal continued for the second day today across Assam.
Members of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti took out a procession in Guwahati and burned the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly making a complete U-turn on the land-swap deal.
"The Prime Minister, before the Lok Sabha elections last year, assured the people of Assam that no land would be handed over to Bangladesh. But after assuming power, the Modi government has made the U-turn and now handing over Assam's lands to Bangladesh with great deal of excitement and cheers. The erstwhile UPA government signed the land-swap deal with Bangladesh. Now the NDA government is executing it. This is clear evidence that both the Congress and BJP are enemies of Assam," KMSS leader Kamal Medhi said.
The All Assam Students' Union took out torch-lit processions across the state this evening accusing both the BJP and Congress of playing with the emotions and dignity of the people. The students' union threatened to intensify its agitation against the land bill. Backing the deal, the Assam government has claimed that the state will approximately gain 714 acres of the 982 acres of the disputed area on the border while Bangladesh would get the remaining 268.40 acres or so.
Additional reporting by Daulat Rahman in Guwahati
