Sylhet-Meghalaya Border
New survey team yet to start work for absence of directives
The new team assigned for survey of Sylhet-Meghalaya border could not start their work yesterday for absence of fresh programme schedule.
Contacted, UNO of Gowainghat Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told this correspondent that the team is yet to get the fresh programme of survey.
Md Ibrahim, a member of the team who reached Sylhet from the capital on Tuesday afternoon also informed that they did not get any programme.
The joint Indo-Bangla survey on the adversely possessed lands (APL) on the said borders remained suspended since 20 June in the face of protest by border people at places during the survey.
Meanwhile, local people under the banner of 'conscious border citizens' yesterday formed human chains and held rallies at the upazila headquarters to protest 'bid to hand over Bangladesh lands to Indians in the name of joint survey'.
A two-hour long human chain was formed at Jaintapur upazila headquarters.
Upazila parishad vice-chairman Muhibul Haque, a number of UP chairmen and former BNP lawmaker Dilder Hossain Selim also joined the programmes including a rally.
The speakers at the rally said that the joint survey should be done in a transparent way. No attempt to hand over lands to the Indians in the name of survey would be tolerated, they said. They also demanded recovery of 200 acres of lands on Padua border which remained under Indian occupation for decades.
An hour-long human chain was also held at Gowainghat upazila headquarters in the morning.
The opposition-backed human chains and protest rallies were also staged at the bordering Kanaighat, Jakiganj and Companiganj upazilas during the last four days.
Although the survey work was to be completed by 15 January, the deadline was extended several times with the last one on 30 June.
However, it now seems that it would be extended again, deputy commissioner of Sylhet Abu Syed Mohammad Hashim told this correspondent yesterday evening.
"The new survey team has been asked to finish the rest of the job as soon as possible. We want to finish the much desired survey as soon as possible", he said.
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