Parliament approves bill to settle 41-year-old border issue with Bangladesh

New Delhi: Settling the country's 41-year-old border issue with Bangladesh, Parliament on Thursday unanimously passed a historic bill to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement that provides for exchange of territories.

The Lower House, showing rare unanimity, passed the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill to allow the operationalisation of the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary agreement.

All the 331 members present in the House voted for the bill which became the 100th Constitutional amendment passed by Parliament.

Soon after the passage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked up to the Opposition benches to thank leaders including Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, BJD's B Mahtab, TMC's Sudip Bandopadhyay and AIADMK leader P Venugopal.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said it was beneficial for both the countries and that there will a "notional" loss of territory without borders getting contracted.

India will get 510 acres while Bangladesh will get 10,000 acres. "But these are notional figures as these areas are deep inside territories of the two countries. Our borders are not getting contracted," she said, while responding to members' questions whether India will lose some territory.

Swaraj said the measure, apart from demarcating the boundaries, would also help checking illegal immigration.

"A solution to the problem of illegal immigration is inherent in this legislation. With the land border now being decided (with the passage of the bill), the portions where there is no fencing will also get fenced," she said.

Swaraj said the only issue which remained to be settled with Bangladesh was that of river water-sharing, primarily relating to Teesta river. "The way in which we are now settling the land boundary issue, we will try to settle this issue also."

The maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh has also been settled last year with the award by the international tribunal.

Refuting allegations about India's alleged 'big brotherly' attitude, the External Affairs Minister said "one is 'big brother' which symbolises arrogance. But there is also the 'elder brother' who is caring. Ours is a caring attitude. India will maintain the attitude of the 'elder brother' with our neighbours."

She also announced a package of Rs 3,008 crore to West Bengal for rehabilitation Indian nationals who will come from Bangladesh, with their numbers estimated to go up to 30,000.

Of this amount, Rs 775 crore is for expenses on fixed infrastructure and the remaining amount would be for variable expenses, depending upon how many people are to be rehabilitated by the state government.

Swaraj, in her speech, also referred to the Indira Gandhi-Mujibur Rahman Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 and the historic protocol signed between former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bangladesh President Sheikh Hasina in September 2011 paving the way for elimination of Bangladeshi and Indian territorial enclaves.

Observing that she has been "transparent" in stating that her party BJP was earlier opposed to the bill, the Minister said it was primarily because of concerns that Assam's interests would be adveresely affected.

However, she said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who had earlier expressed some reservations on similar lines, wrote to the Prime Minister and her, urging the Centre to include the clauses relating to the state.

AIUDF's Sirajuddin Ajmal had reservations over the bill but Swaraj appealed to him to see that it is passed "without a single yellow button (which indicates abstention vote) being pressed."

Referring to the unanimous passage of the bill by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the External Affairs Minister said "this has sent a message to Bangladesh that political parties in India do not have divergent views. The unity which was witnessed in the Rajya Sabha, if the same will be seen in the Lok Sabha then a very good message will be sent to Bangladesh."

AIADMK members wanted the issue of Katchathivu islands also to be settled with Sri Lanka. The Katchathivu islands were given by India to Sri Lanka under a 1974 agreement, which

Tamil parties want to be retrieved.

To this, Swaraj said both AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa and her DMK counterpart M Karunanidhi have moved Supreme Court on the matter. "I cannot say anything on this issue as the matter is sub-judice."

She complimented TMC member Sugata Bose, CPI(M)'s Mohd Salim and her party colleague SS Ahluwalia, who spoke in Bengali, for "bringing the rich Bengali poetry and culture" in

the debate.

Moving the bill, Swaraj said its passage will help demarcate boundaries and send a message to neighbours that political parties in India are united when it comes to border

sharing.

"Mamata Banerjee wanted a package to rehabilitate the people coming from Bangladesh. We have given them a Rs 3,008 crore package based on estimation that 35,000 people will need

rehabilitation," Swaraj said.

Swaraj said West Bengal was satisfied with the Rs 3,008 crore package, which has a component of fixed expenditure of Rs 775 crore which would be spent on infrastructure building and a variable component of Rs 2,234 crore.

As far as Assam is concerned under the LBA, India will be getting 470 acres of land from the neighbouring country, while 268 acres would go to Bangladesh.