BALURGHAT, May 13 -- The BJP government in West Bengal, led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, has intensified efforts to complete barbed-wire fencing along unfenced stretches of the India-Bangladesh border within the next 45 days. However, the move has sparked a major debate in South Dinajpur's Hili's border villages over whether farmers will receive higher compensation through formal land acquisition or by directly selling land to the government.
The uncertainty stems from the absence of any clear guidelines from the new government regarding how land for the fencing project will be secured. Local officials believe the administration may adopt land acquisition instead of the earlier policy followed by the Trinamool Congress government under former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which preferred direct purchase of land from farmers at market rates. Land department sources said the process of purchasing land for fencing began in 2022 in Ujal, Aptair, Basudebpur and Agra mouzas under Hili police station, involving around 16.3275 acres. Earlier, on January 8, 2014, the state cabinet had approved the purchase of nearly 14.634 acres for fencing work across Balurghat, Kumarganj and Hili.
Officials admitted that direct land purchase is a lengthy process involving negotiations with landowners, verification of documents and registration in the name of the Zilla Parishad. In many cases, landowners living outside the state are difficult to trace, making the 45-day target challenging.
Experts said compensation under the Land Acquisition Acts of 1989 or 2013 could be nearly two to three times higher than prevailing market rates. This has now raised concerns among farmers who had earlier sold land at lower prices.
"We had given our land earlier at rates lower than the market price. If the new government now acquires land and pays higher compensation, then we will be financially deprived. Our land beyond the proposed fencing line has also suffered damage," said Babin Das of Basudebpur mouza.
Hili Block Land and Land Reforms Officer Dipesh Kumar Mallik said: "No specific guideline has yet come from the new government. Some land has already been purchased, some purchase work is continuing and fresh surveys have started in several mouzas."
South Dinajpur shares nearly 252 kilometres of border with Bangladesh, of which around 30 kilometres remain unfenced, mainly in Hili. Security agencies have long considered these open stretches vulnerable to smuggling and infiltration. Residents of the border villages have welcomed the fencing plan.
"When there was no fencing, we faced constant harassment from across the border. Even cattle and goats could not be kept safely after evening. If fencing comes up, we will finally be able to live peacefully," said Mousumi Das of Purba Aptair village.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.