Tripura border village cut off from dusk to dawn, residents survive on Bangladesh’s mercy

Around 300 families of Rahimpura, a border village in Tripura’s Sepahijala district, are at Bangladesh’s mercy, especially at night, as the habitation has been fenced out of Indian territory.

India is erecting a barbed-wire fence along its 4,096km border with Bangladesh in keeping with the Indira-Mujib Pact of 1974.
 
The fence has been placed inside Indian territory, about 150 yards from the border pillars that separate the two nations.
 
Villagers say they have been waiting for over five years for the Indian government to give them land so that they can relocate to a place behind the fence erected to prevent smuggling, cross border movement of burglars and militants, and halt illegal migration.
 
Mohammad Salim, headman of Rohimpur village, said although the villagers were eager to shift to any place inside the fenced area as it was safe from Bangladesh burglars and militants, they were unable to move because they were too poor to buy land.
 

He said so far they had been given a few corrugated tin sheets and Rs 27,000 in cash with which to construct houses on the Indian side.

The money and materials were too meagre to buy land and relocate, he said.

From dusk to dawn these villagers are cut off from India as the gates in the fence, through which they move after being thoroughly checked by the BSF and registering  their names, are locked at 6pm and opens only at 6am next morning.

Literally, their security rests on Bangladesh and they often have to move within the country in the event of medical emergencies.

“We stay on the western side (outside) the fence. It will be a great help if the government of India gives us money for rehabilitation,” said Rokeya Khatun.

 “We face a lot of problems because the gates are locked at 6pm and opens next day at 6am. If there is an emergency, help does not come immediately.

“The BSF has to fetch the keys from their camps, and that takes time.”

Similar is the experience of another villager Rahima Begum.

“If we had houses on this side (inside fencing) it would have been of great help because we cannot move freely and there is always a risk.”