Jalpaiguri, Sept. 28 -- Tension has resurfaced along the South Berubari border after a fresh survey by the BSF and the Land and Land Revenue Department reportedly indicated that the homes of some villagers who had already surrendered agricultural land for border fencing could now fall on the Bangladesh side of the fence.
The dispute has emerged in Naljoyapara and Bhujaripara villages under Berubari mouza, Sheet No. 25. A few years ago, the BSF and the Land Department conducted a survey for the border road and fencing and installed pillars after keeping residential areas outside the demarcated zone.
Several residents subsequently surrendered portions of their agricultural land and received compensation from the Land Acquisition Department. They later registered the remaining portions and continued to live there.
However, over the past month, another survey has been conducted. According to residents, land extending 250 yards from the zero point along the border has now been demarcated for the road and fencing, with bamboo posts marking the proposed alignment. Villagers later uprooted the posts in protest.
Pradip Adhikari of Naljoyapara said: "We had already given our agricultural land for the construction of the road and fencing and received compensation.
Now, following the fresh survey, a situation has arisen where my house could fall on the Bangladesh side of the barbed-wire fence."
Residents of Bhujaripara, including Mohan and Pabitra Karmakar, claimed they faced a similar situation. "If we have to become strangers in our own land, then had we known this earlier, we would not have given even the small portion of land that we surrendered," they said.
Saradaprasad Das, joint secretary of the South Berubari Defence Committee, referred to the 2011 India-Bangladesh agreement and questioned the fresh demarcation. "We will intensify our agitation and may also approach the High Court," he said.
District Land and Land Revenue Officer Harish Rashid said the Berubari land dispute was being examined at both the district and state levels.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.