The overhead high-tension power line and satellite TV dishes at counter enclaves like Madnagura and Chhit Seoraguri mark the aspirations of those living in Bangladeshi enclaves of India.
The real condition of counter enclaves, however, belies their hopes and dreams. The ground situation also raises a question on the proposed steps for development the government talks about.
Enclaves are land pockets of Bangladesh surrounded on all sides by Indian mainland while counter enclaves are bits and pieces of India in the middle of these Bangladeshi enclaves.
The two counter enclaves closest to Cooch Behar in northern West Bengal are Madnagura and Chhit Seoraguri. While Madnagura lies in the middle of Bhatrigachhi, a Bangladeshi enclave, Chhit Seoraguri is an area of around 2.5 acres in the middle of Mashaldanga, another Bangladeshi enclave. Madnagura, home to around 450 Indians, is a small hamlet where most people are involved in farming.
Surrounded on all sides by waist-high concrete pillars that draw an invisible line between India and Bangladesh, what makes Madnagura a desirable location is the overhead power line. It bypasses Bhatrigachhi even as it passes over it, making residents of the Bangladeshi enclave sigh in silent despair. “All we get to do is see the power line over our heads. We can see houses at Madnagura lit up in the night when we live in darkness,” said 79-year-old Md Ali.
Other residents of Bhatrigachhi also expressed despair at being left out of the development process since they are enclave residents. They complained as to how they have to travel to Indian villages just to get their phones charged. What they consider as comforts – power supply, irrigation canals, glowing bulbs at home and direct-to-home TV antennas – have become the bane of existence for those living next door at Madnagura. They have electric poles and supply lines but hardly any power throughout the year.
“We’ve been living in darkness since Eid day on July 18,” said 69-year-old Asgar Ali, a resident of the Indian counter enclave, on Friday. “People at Bhatrigachhi think we’re living a comfortable life but they don’t know the whole truth. It’s true that we can cast our vote but we hardly get any benefits of being Indian citizens,” he complained. If the nearest health centre is a 15-km trip, the closest police station is 35 km away at Dinhata, the sub-divisional headquarters. “Our plight is not much different from those living in enclaves,” he said.
If at Madnagura, the complaint is of poor infrastructure, at Chhit Seoraguri, the crisis is more complex. The lush green oasis has only one family living in it, that of Chitto Das. Most of the counter enclave is his land where he cultivates wheat but he lives in perennial fear. “We’re the only Hindus surrounded by Muslims on all sides,” he said, referring to Mashaldanga, which spreads across eight villages. “Now that they are getting citizenship, we’re facing threats every day to sell our land and leave. The nearest Hindu household is a kilometre away and in case of trouble, we’ll be completely outnumbered,” he said.
Published 30 July 2015, 19:15 IST