A policeman controls traffic on the Tin Bigha corridor. File picture

Cooch Behar, Dec. 10: Political parties cutting across their affiliations have opposed the construction of an elevated footbridge over the Tin Bigha corridor for which the Centre has given the go-ahead.

The corridor connects the Bangladeshi enclave of Angrapota-Dahagram with the mainland.

The Cooch Behar district administration, which has sat with the local people and representatives of political parties to seek their opinions, conveyed the objection to Writers’ Buildings and Delhi.

The state food minister, Paresh Adhikary, who played a leading role during the movement against the Tin Bigha corridor in 1992, said despite shedding blood, the Forward Bloc had not succeeded in preventing the corridor from being handed over to Bangladesh. “This time, we will not allow the footbridge. If Delhi goes ahead with the plan, we will prevent it at any cost,” Adhikary said.

He said the people of the area would not tolerate the Bangladeshis using the Tin Bigha corridor, while the Indians used the footbridge. “We are also going to oppose the proposal of keeping the corridor open for 24 hours,” he said. At present, the corridor remains open from 6am to 6pm.

Cooch Behar district magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra said the Centre had decided to construct a footbridge over the Tin Bigha corridor. “Accordingly, the state home department has asked me to seek the local opinion and we held an all-party meeting in the first week of November at Mekhliganj where opinions were expressed against the construction. I have communicated that to Calcutta and Delhi.”

Sources in the district administration said Dhaka had been asking Delhi to keep the Tin Bigha corridor open round the clock and also to construct an elevated footbridge for the Indians to use.

Recently, a meeting was held between officials of the two countries in Delhi. However, keeping in mind the violence that took place while allowing the Bangladeshi nationals to use the corridor, both the state and the central governments suggested that local opinion be sought before doing anything.

On June 26, 1992, three persons were killed in police firing in Mekhliganj during a violent demonstration against the handing over of Tin Bigha to Bangladesh.

This year on November 18, the Bangladeshi high commissioner to India, Tariq Ahmad Karim, entered Bangladesh through the immigration check-post at Changrabandha and inspected the Dahagram-Angrapota enclave and the Tin Bigha corridor, sources said.