No land demarcation problem between India and Bangladesh, say officials

There is no land demarcation problem between Bangladesh and India and all pending issues between the two countries have been resolved, top executives of land records departments of the neighbouring countries announced on Sunday.

The 82nd India-Bangladesh joint border conference began on Thursday to settle various disputes along the border shared by the two neighbours which concluded in Agartala on Saturday.

"India and Bangladesh have resolved all border issues including the problems of enclaves in West Bengal, Chandan Nagar enclave in Tripura, Char dispute at river Muhuri in South Tripura district and all boundary problems," Abdul Mannan, director general of Bangladesh land records and N R Biswal, Director of Survey of India, East zone said in a joint press conference.

In the three-day border conference, the six-member Indian side was led by N R Biswal while the six-member Bangladesh side was headed by Abdul Mannan.

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led a delegation to Bangladesh in September, 2011, Foreign Ministers of Bangladesh and India, Dipu Moni and S M Krishna respectively, signed a MOU to resolve all disputes on the borders of the two countries, Mannan told reporters.

"All the problems are now solved but those need to be ratified in the Parliaments of both the countries. However, we are not aware about the time when those things would be ratified," the executives said.

Reconstruction of damaged pillars in right places and demarcation of the boundaries between the two countries were the main agenda of the meeting.

The meeting decided that survey of borders in South Tripura-Khagracherri district and Chittagong, Gomati-Khagrachheri, Khowai-Habiganj and Moulabi Bazaar, West Tripura-Brahmanbaria and Sipahijala-Brahmanbaria would be started in next November.

"These are routine issues," they said.

The last border conference was held in Dhaka and the next such meet would be held in Comilla of the neighbouring country.

The two countries share 4,095-km-long border of which Tripura shares 856-km border, West Bengal 2,216 km, Meghalaya 443 km, Mizoram 318 km and Assam 262 km.

A large portion of the India-Bangladesh border is now fenced with barbed wire.