Citizens living in former enclaves yet to get NIDs

Those who went to India after it swapped the enclaves with Bangladesh have already got their national identity cards (NID), but those who stayed back are still stuck in the 'process' of becoming Bangladeshi voters. Bangladesh’s Election Commission says it is unable to proceed with their plans since delimitations of the parliamentary constituencies are yet to be finished. A total of 987 people from 111 enclaves, now included in the Bangladesh map, opted to go to India. They received their Indian NIDs on September 7 (Monday). But there has been no significant progress on the same issue for those opting to be in Bangladesh. EC Secretary Md Sirajul Islam said: “For citizens to become voters, boundary of the constituency they are in must be finalised first. The EC will declare an area a parliamentary constituency after the LGRD ministry completes the administrative formalities. Those who decided to stay back or return will be included on the voters’ list and the process to give them NIDs will begin only then.”
By implementing the Land Boundary Agreement, 51 Bangladesh enclaves in India became Indian territory, and 111 Indian ‘land islands’ in Bangladesh became Bangladesh territory from the midnight of July 31. The EC secretary said they informed the Prime Minister’s Office about their plan to enlist the citizens of these former enclaves as Bangladeshi voters, according to bdnews24.com.
- biplab