Hasina vows easy access to Bangladeshis in Indian enclaves
By IANSThursday, March 11, 2010
DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has pledged 24-hour access for Bangladeshis living in the Dahagram and Angarpota enclaves located within Indian territory.
Although Bangladesh is facing a power shortage, she also promised electricity supply to the inhabitants while speaking to them via videoconferencing Wednesday, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) news agency reported.
Dahagram and Angarpota are the larger of the Bangladeshi enclaves in Indian territory. India too has enclaves in Bangladeshi territory caused by the demarcation of the international border with then East Pakistan when the British divided the subcontinent in 1947.
“As this piece of land is isolated from the main land, we have greater responsibility to the people of the area,” Hasina said while inaugurating free healthcare service of the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust for the people of the enclaves.
The arrangement, in force for for six decades, has been that people till their lands in each other’s territories and must return home before dusk.
Re-drawing of the border without disturbing the inhabitants was agreed by the two neighbours during Hasina’s New Delhi talks in January.
Hasina said action would be taken against doctors who do not stay in their stations, especially in rural areas.
“But we will also provide lucrative facilities to the doctors who will perform their duties properly at places like Dahagram-Angarpota,” she was quoted as saying in The Daily Star.
