Tripura residents affected by fencing continue strike
February 4th, 2011 - 7:46 pm ICT by IANS
Agartala, Feb 4 (IANS) People affected by the fencing on the India-Bangladesh frontier in Tripura continued their relay hunger strike for the third day Friday demanding immediate rehabilitation.”The strike will continue until the Tripura government accepts the 19-point demands, including the resettlement of the affected families,” Congress legislator Subal Bhowmik told reporters.
According to Bhowmik, who is spearheading the protest, over 8,500 families have been affected by the construction of the barbed wire fencing, which is going on.
The Indian government has been erecting the fence along the 856 km India-Bangladesh border with Tripura to check trans-border movement of militants, prevent infiltration from across the border and check numerous border crimes.
Similar fencing is being erected all along the 4,095 km India-Bangladesh border with West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram besides Tripura.
“After the partition of India, thousands of families engaged in farming and agriculture have been living along both sides of the border for generations. Huge extent of farmland also falls outside the fencing,” Bhowmik said.
He said the families not only lost their ancestral home land but also have been facing uncertainty over their farmlands that fall outside the fencing.
Blaming Tripura’s Left Front government for “ignoring the legitimate demands of the affected people”, the Congress leader said: “The central government is also willing to help the state to resolve the problems of these displaced people.”
“The state government must send detailed proposals to the center to rehabilitate the dislocated people and to support in their livelihood schemes,” Bhowmik said, referring to union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s suggestion.
He said a huge area of farm land, markets, temples, mosques, public utilities and permanent constructions in Tripura were fenced out due to “wrong alignment of the barbed wire fencing”.
A Tripura government official said that several thousand affected families have already been rehabilitated and the process is on to resettle the remaining people.
“The state government had sent a Rs.95 crore project to the central government long back for economic rehabilitation of the fencing affected people. New Delhi is yet to respond favourably on this scheme,” the official added.
- Tripura locals affected by fencing vow to intensify stir - Feb 12, 2011
- Tripura villagers affected by border fencing to step up stir - May 12, 2011
- Bangladesh relaxes norms for India to erect border fence - Apr 08, 2011
- Displaced persons from India- Bangladesh border stages a protest rally in Agartala - Feb 15, 2011
- Bangladesh against fencing at border zero-line: Sarkar - Mar 05, 2012
- Tripura seeks fencing on actual border - Nov 25, 2011
- Fencing-affected border residents of Mizoram go on strike - Apr 06, 2010
- Six abducted by militants in Mizoram - Mar 26, 2012
- 35,000 people to be hit by border fencing in Mizoram - Sep 27, 2010
- No trace of hostages, fencing work stops - Apr 02, 2012
- Indo-Bangla border to be fenced by March 2010: BSF chief (Lead) - Nov 24, 2009
- River erosion upsets BSF at India-Bangladesh border - May 08, 2012
- PM's Bangladesh visit to resolve outstanding issues: BSF - Mar 03, 2011
- Tripura welcomes investment from Bangladesh: Chief Minister - Jan 19, 2012
- Official killed in militant ambush in Tripura - Jan 31, 2011
Tags: ancestral home, assam, barbed wire fencing, border movement, central government, congress leader, farmlands, hunger strike, indian government, land markets, legislator, meghalaya, mizoram, partition of india, pranab mukherjee, resettlement, subal, tripura government, union finance minister, west bengal