Parliament's Standing Committee on External Affairs recommends Centre to ... - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Parliament's Standing Committee on External Affairs, which submitted its report on the Land Boundary Agreement Bill on exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh, has recommended that the Centre should have closer consultations with the concerned state governments but the differences between BJP and TMC that governs West Bengal indicate that the Constitution Amendment may have to be passed without the nod of the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation.

The Standing Committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor submitted its report to both Houses of Parliament on Monday. The document urges the Centre to pass The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013, soon as the land boundary dispute with Bangladesh - unresolved since 1974 - is forcing people living in this area to lead a miserable life.

Due to lack of access to these areas by the law and order enforcement agencies and weak property rights, certain enclaves have become the "hotbed of criminal activities", the report states.

BJP was opposed to the land boundary agreement while it was in opposition but has changed its opinion after coming to power in May. Party sources said BJP's Assam unit is still opposed to the agreement on the grounds that India will cede more territory to Bangladesh in the land swap.

TMC too is still against the exchange of enclaves. Since the proposed legislation - under which 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladesh enclaves in India will be exchanged - is a constitutional amendment, it would have to be ratified by half of the state assemblies.

As per the report, all Bangladeshi enclaves are located in the district of Cooch Behar in West Bengal and all Indian enclaves are located in four Bangladeshi districts of Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Nilphamari which are close to the border with West Bengal.

While the Standing Committee has observed in its report that "closer consultations at the highest political level between central government and state government would have been desirable," it further suggests to the government to "effectively coordinate with them (state governments concerned) on all matters and resolve the lacuna related to actual implementation of the Accord on the ground".

Though the land swap can be done even if the West Bengal government is not in agreement provided Parliament passes the Bill and half (15) the states give their nod, not having the Mamata Banerjee government on board would create a peculiar situation.

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