600 residents of enclaves within Bangladesh want to migrate to India

At least 600 people have said they wanted to go to India during a joint survey conducted in the enclaves of Panchagarh and Kurigram.

No one from the enclaves within the Indian territory has expressed desire to shift to Bangladesh.
 
The official manning the district control room set up for the headcount and Executive Magistrate Shahin Reza on Saturday said 389 people from 36 enclaves in Panchagarh applied to go to India.
 
In enclaves within Kurigram, 211 people expressed the similar desire, he told bdnews24.com.
 
He said many other people at the beginning had also expressed such desire but later changed their mind.

Assistant General Secretary of the Indian unit of Enclaves Exchange Coordination Committee (EECC) Diptiman Sengupta said none in the Bangladeshi enclaves inside India wanted to return to mainland Bangladesh in the first five days of the headcount.

Fourteen people from Panchagarh’s Garati enclave and four from Boda’s Nazirganj Doikhata enclave changed their decision to go to India.

Shahin Reza said these 18 people submitted fresh applications to stay in Bangladesh.

EECC Panchgarh-Nilphamari President Mofizar Rahman said, “A few people want to go to India due to family dispute, share of land ownership and other reasons.”

“Most of them are Hindus,” he said.

The joint survey, which started on July 6, will continue until July 16.