ENCLAVE PEOPLE TO GO KOLKATA

Trinamul bid to woo the enclave people

The Trinamul Congress is going ahead with a plan to exert its influence among the residents of the Indian ''chhitmahals' (enclaves). They want to build up a massive movement by highlighting the problems and miseries of the enclaves and the people live there. The party wants to make it known that an enclave is nothing but a piece of land whose residents have no identity, no citizenship and nothing to prove that they belong to any country. They have to live there encircled by mainland of another country. The aim of the Trinamul Congress is to convince the Centre that exchange of 'chhitmahals' is the only alternative to dissolve the problems that the residents are suffering from for years.

It is believed that the hidden plan behind the Trinamul's initiative is to woo the enclave residents prior to the next Assembly elections. It will be easier if the exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh commences before the election. If the residents of the Indian enclaves get their names included in the voters' list and recognised as Indian citizens they may consider the Trinamul Congress as the saviour and the votes may go in favour of that party.

President of Cooch Behar district unit of the Trinamul Congress Mr Rabindranath Ghosh said they already sent memorandums to the Union home minister Mr P Chidambaram requesting him to take initiative to exchange the enclaves of the two neighbouring countries. Mr Ghosh said there were 131 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh territory and 95 Bangladeshi enclaves in Indian territory. About 2.5-lakh people reside in the Indian enclaves. Many residents of Bangladeshi enclaves have illegally collected Indian ration cards and voter identity cards too. They enjoy different facilities from India very easily as they live encircled by Indian mainland. But the residents of Indian enclaves get no such facilities. It is hard for them to enter Indian mainland crossing the Bangladeshi land. For them there was no hospital, no school, no government facility and no security too. Bangladeshi miscreants steal their cattle regularly. Abduction of young women is a regular crime in these enclaves. Parents of young daughters can never sleep quietly in the night.

In 1992, at the time of handing over of Tinbigha corridor to Bangladesh it was announced that the 'chhitmahals' of the two countries would be exchanged by two years but it is still to be implemented, Mr Ghosh alleged. The Union home minister should come forward to translate that promise into reality, he demanded.

It is learnt that a large group of people from different Indian enclaves may join the Martyrs Day celebration of the Trinamul Congress at Kolkata in this month. They may meet the Trinamul Congress supremo cum Union railway minister Miss Mamata Banerjee there to tell her their miseries. If they can convince her and Miss Banerjee takes up the issue to the Centre she has every possibility to turn into the saviour of the stateless peoples. And it may surely turn into a vote puller instrument in Cooch Behar district, local Trinamul leaders believe.

PHOTO : Enclave people in a procession in Cooch Behar town demanding an end to their miseries.

NORTH BENGAL STATE LIBRARY

Find rare manuscripts and books from Internet

From now on you need not go to any library to get information about any book to meet your special interest or for research work. Just log on to the website of the library and get the information required.

All the state and district level libraries of this state are going to be connected with the State Central Library situated at Ultodanga in Kolkata. The work for the ambitious project has already started and a few libraries got connected through the Internet. It is expected that very soon all the remaining libraries may be joined through the Internet.

It is learnt that once the State Central Library is connected with the other libraries in the state through the Internet, the readers and researchers may receive all required information of any book or manuscript kept in any of the libraries of any district. One will have to search his or her choice of book or manuscript by logging on the site of the specific library without going to that library. The North Bengal State Library in Cooch Behar already got connected with the State Central Library, according to its librarian Mr Ranu Dey.

Effort to prepare a descriptive catalogue of rare and invaluable Sanskrit manuscripts of the North Bengal State Library has started. The number of such age-old manuscripts is about one hundred. In 1940, the then ruler of Cooch Behar State Maharaja Jagaddipendra Narayan had invited an eminent scholar Shashi Bhusan Dasgupta to make a descriptive catalogue of the age-old Bengali manuscripts and scriptures, Mr Dey said. Dasgupta had prepared a catalogue of one hundred Bengali manuscripts. At that time the work for making a catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts was not possible due to different reasons. Now, the work has been initiated with financial assistance from the National Archive of the Government of India, Mr Dey said.

The NBSL librarian is happy to get connected with the State Central Library through the Internet. He said that there were about 85,000 books in the NBSL. Number of rare books is about 16,000. Number of handwritten manuscripts of 500 to 300 year-old is 228. After completion of the work of preparing of descriptive catalogue of Sanscrit manuscripts they will start making of such catalogue of manuscripts written in Assamese language, Mr Dey added.

NBSL sources said that computerisation of description of the books purchased during past one year has been completed. They may engage a reputed and experienced agency to prepare of descriptive catalogue of remaining 70,000 books.

In 2007, a section for the children was added to the North Bengal State Library that started its journey dated back in 1870. In this section there are about 4,000 books and the number of members is about 500. A Career Guidance Section was added to the library in 2001 and it is also very popular among the students who are going to seat for different competitive examinations.

MINORITY DEVELOPMENT

Trinamul stir plan on minority development

The Central government had sanctioned a large sum of fund for the development of the people from minority communities but that fund is lying unused. As the utilisation certificate for the first instalment was not sent the second instalment of the fund is not coming. Alleging this the Trinamul Congress is getting ready for a massive movement to attract the notice of the authorities to the matter.

District Trinamul Congress president Mr Rabindra Nath Ghosh alleged that the Centre had approved a fund amounting Rs 150-crore in 2008 for the development of the people of minority communities. As its first instalment the district received Rs 48-crore but that was not spent till now. As it was not spent and the utilisation certificate was not sent the second instalment of the fund may not come. As a result the members of the minority communities will remain deprieved, as they were earlier. They brought the matter to the notice of the district administration several times but nothing was done, Mr Ghosh alleged.

Mr Ghosh said the sanctioned fund was to be used for making drinking water available to all, good road communication by construction of roads, setting up of Madrasas, improvement of irrigation facilities, arrangement for burial grounds, construction of houses for the homeless and many other developmental schemes for the benefit of the minority people. But the fund has been kept unused. For these reasons the minority-populated areas of the district is still suffering from under-development. Many poor people are going out to other provinces to seek jobs, as they get no job here, he alleged. "We want an end of this situation and so we are going to organise a massive movement over the issue", Mr Ghosh announced.

When asked, a member of the District Minority Development Committee and also an MLA of the CPI-M Mr Tamser Ali said they had sent proposals in two phases to the tune of about Rs 52-crore to the Centre through the state government. But, the Centre reportedly denied many of the projects of the proposals. "They conveyed that no new work could be done by using the fund. The fund should be used to develop and improve existing, ongoing and already approved projects", Mr Ali said. The DMDC member also said that they were trying to set up a Muslim girls' hostel and a plot of land was also earmarked for the purpose. At the first phase the hostel will be for 100 girls but latter it would be uplifted for 400 girls, he said. An English medium Madrasa will also be set up and foundation for the project will be done soon. Mr Ali is in no mood to admit that nothing was done for the minority people in Cooch Behar district.

On Monday, District Minority Officer Mr Sajjad Siddiqi was not available in his office. He was reportedly gone out to survey the progress of the ongoing projects. However, a senior government official said a proposal was sent from the district for approval of an estimated expenditure of Rs 48.20-crore. The proposal was sent following an instruction to make the estimate to the tune of the said amount of money. The utilisation certificate for the first instalment of the fund was sent and they are expecting the second instalment soon, the official said. The received fund was distributed among the Block Development Officers of the concerned areas and work is going on in full swing, he added.

But, the Trinamul Congress leader Mr Ghosh demanded that the administration should disclose the name of the projects and the expenditure done so far. Otherwise they will not go away from their movement plan, he announced.

Forward Bloc's stir plan against land acquisition for BSF camp

The Forward Bloc is not in a mood to allow the authorities to acquire any land for building a camp for the Border Security Force at Meghnarayaner Kuthi village under Sukarur Kuthi Gram Panchayat in Dinhata. They announced of a severe movement plan to resist such a bid.

Secretary of Cooch Behar district unit of the Forward Bloc Mr Udayan Guha said a bid was there to acquire about nine-bigha land to build up a BSF camp at Meghnarayaner Kuthi village. Many homesteads may be evicted and cultivable lands may be acquired for the purpose. If the camp comes up there the local residents, about 14-thousand in number, may have to suffer. The Forward Bloc will not allow the people to suffer. Presently, the local people have to suffer due to the rigidity of the BSF jawans in that area. The Indo-Bangladesh border area is also under Section 144 CrPC for round the year. The new camp may add more problems, he said.

Mr Guha said they would never allow the authorities to acquire land and build up a BSF camp at Meghnarayaner Kuthi as the area may turn isolated from the rest of the district soon after the evening. There may be no independence of the locals, as the area will come under the whims of the BSF jawans.

When asked, the district land and land revenue officer Mr Krishna Chandra Mandal said the plan is still in primary stage. The decision will be taken after a joint survey and inspection. No one should be panicked over the plan, he assured. Dinhata SDO Mr Chiranjib Ghosh also said that he has no information that the land is going to be acquired immediately.

It is learnt that seventy border outposts (BOP) are going to come up along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar district. An agency has been entrusted to identify suitable lands. In a bid to make the bordering area trouble-free and also to curb infiltration and smuggling several more BOPs are needed, sources said.