AGARTALA, July 27 (TIWN): The India-Bangladesh joint meeting on land-boundary agreement held on July 23 at Bangladesh capital Dhaka, had finalised map design granting a fresh boundary for the two nations, said official source. The joint survey report on enclaves of both the sides of India and Bangladesh has also been finalised. The two days meeting was held at Dhaka Shonargao hotel. However, a total of 40 delegations both from India and Bangladesh has attended the meeting.Tripura was represented by state revenue secretary Punit Agarwal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had signed the agreement with his Bangladeshi counterpart on June 6 at Dhaka with the door finally opened for over 50,000 virtually stateless people to finally get a national identity. As per the agreement, the disputed Chandan Nagar village under Dhalai district of Tripura would join with the Indian territory whereas Muhri Char of Belonia under South District of Tripura would merge with the Bangladesh territory. Tripura government had produced all papers related to Chandannagar and Bangladesh which had left Chandananagar for Tripura, because the families residing there are Indians and used to do cultivation but in case of Muharichar they are raising various questions, said official.

Revenue Minister Badal Chowdhury suggested that most part of the disputed char land at Muhuripur would go to Bangladesh side and the enclave at Chandannagar would come to Indian side but there would not be any eviction.

According to the report seven hundred seventy-nine residents of 111 Indian enclaves on Bangladesh side opted for going to India while no one of the residents of Bangladeshi enclaves on Indian side intended to come to Bangladesh.

Besides, according to the joint survey report, there are 14,500 residents in the 51 Bangladeshi enclaves on the Indian side, and 44,500 people in 111 Indian enclaves landlocked in Bangladesh. Theses enclave residents will be permitted to go to India through any border from August 1 to November 3.

The joint survey began in Bangladesh and India on July 6 to record the choice of nationality of 51,584 people in 162 enclaves in each other’s territories prior to the enclave exchange to begin from July 31 next.

The land accord was originally agreed in 1974 by Indira Gandhi of India and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh. Progress stopped for a long time, however, after Mujibur was assassinated in 1975 and subsequent governments failed to agree on the transfer of enclaves.

Later on June 6, Saturday India and Bangladesh signed the agreement to abridge their 4,000-km border and clarified the identities of 52,000 living in enclaves. Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya all fall under the bill.

However, the agreement is expected to bring a solution to the two disputed land problems in Tripura-Bangladesh border and benefit other neighbouring state to resolve various other problems including cross border movement.