Displaced persons from India- Bangladesh border stage a protest rally in Agartala
By ANITuesday, February 15, 2011
AGARTALA - Hundreds of displaced persons from the India-Bangladesh border region in northeastern state of Tripura staged a rally at Agartala, the capital of Tripura to pressurise the state government to consider and implement their demands for apt rehabilitation.
The people were displaced due to the erection of barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Subal Bhowmick, President of Simanta Bhumi Suraksha Committee (Committee for Protection of Soil in Border), said on Monday that the state government is least bothered about the problems of the displaced families.
“We are on hunger strike for past 13 days but no one from the state government has bothered to contact us. We have always run to the government but they have ignored us and tried to divert the angle of our problem by saying that it is a central (federal) government’s concern.” said Bhowmik.
Due to the India-Bangladesh barbed wire fencing, 8500 families lost their land, farms, ponds including places of worship like temple, mosques.heir entire belongings have gone to the other part of the barbed fence, said Bhowmik.
Further he noted that if the government continues to ignore their problems, then their agitation would take up a much unpleasant turn.
“Several people are joining in this protest in support of this for the 19th time of our demands. I strongly believe that all those who have been affected by the displacement at the border should be rehabilitated or else our agitation would take a more adverse turn,” added Bhowmik.
Earlier on February 3, the protestors had launched a hunger strike to draw the attention of the state government.
The major demands of Simanta Bhumi Suraksha Committee (Committee for Protection of Soil in Border) include publication of names of the 8,500 displaced families, fencing along zero-Point to save the Indian soil, government employment for each affected family and allotment of alternative land for them.
Tripura shares 856 km long border with Bangladesh of which 675 km had been fenced to check illegal migrants, keep an eye on Indian insurgents fleeing to Bangladesh and also to keep a vigil over illegal trade and trans-border crime.
Similar fencing is also being erected all along the 4,095-km India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. (ANI)
