Sylhet-Meghalaya Borders
Joint survey bid stumbles again
The joint survey of disputed Sylhet-Meghalaya borders, scheduled to resume on Wednesday in Noljur area close to Tamabil-Dauki point, did not start even yesterday, a member of the survey team said.
The Indians were pressing for survey ignoring the border pillars set in 1947, he said. However, there will be a fresh bid to resume the job on Protappur-Padua borders in Gowainghat on 21 May, the official added.
Officials of the directorate of survey and land administration last week visited different places of Sylhet-Meghalaya borders, where the joint survey had to be suspended time and again since December last year.
Resumption of the survey would end the stalemate, prevailing for months as Bangladesh officials could not agree with the Indians who had pressed for ignoring 1947 pillars on the adversely possessed lands (APL) on different borders in the region.
Coordinator of the joint survey Ahmed Shamim Al Raji, also additional deputy commissioner, revenue, here said the survey this time would be done by two teams on 12 points of the border.
The joint survey could not be resumed even weeks after the schedule as the officials had to suspend it in December last year due to a trouble created by the Indian Khasia tribesmen and others on the much talked about Padua-Protappur borders.
Again it stumbled on 5 April as the Indians failed to bring any substantial documents in support of their claim for lands inside the Bangladesh territory, officials said.
In the wake of repeated incidents of intrusion by Khasias for looting paddy crops and fishing in Sylhet region as well as killing of Bangladesh nationals by the BSF, the authorities decided for a joint survey of the Jaintapur, Gowainghat and Kanaighat borders.
Accordingly, it began on 7 December last year.
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