There will be no change in Bangladesh map following the ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) by the Indian parliament providing for exchange of enclaves between the two countries, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shariar Alam on Sunday.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Bill 2013 was finally passed on May 07 by the Indian parliament's lower house - Lok Sabha -- by 331 votes in favour and none against.
Earlier, the bill was unanimously passed by the upper house - Rajya Sabha-paving the way for resolving a major irritant in the relations between the two next-door neighbours.
Under the agreement, the two countries will swap 162 enclaves and over 5,000 acres of adversely possessed land to right what is seen as a historical wrong done during partition of the subcontinent in 1947 at the end of British rule.
India will transfer 111 enclaves with 17,158 acres of land and a population of 37,369. The enclaves are spread across four districts in Bangladesh -- 12 in Kurigram, 59 in Lalmonirhat, four in Nilphamari and 36 in Panchagarh.
The 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, all located in Cooch Behar of West Bengal, have 7,110 acres of land and population of 14,215.
With the exchange of the enclaves and lands in adverse possession, people in general are thinking of some changes in the country's map. But the state minister for foreign affairs ruled out the possibility of any change in the map.
"There will be no change in Bangladesh map. The map will be intact," he said while talking to journalists at his office.
He, however, pointed out that there would be some changes but these would be very minor and microscopic and would make no changes to the shape of the map.
The LBA has three components. One is un-demarcated land boundary of approximately 6.1 kms in three sectors in Bangladesh's Nilphamari and India's West Bengal, Muhuri River in Bangladesh's Feni and Belonia in India's Tripura, and Lathitila-Dumabari in Bangladesh's Moulvibazar and India's Assam.
The other two are exchange of 162 enclaves and over 5,000 acres of adversely possessed land.
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