~ Tinbigha - a profile ~
| What is Tinbigha? | Where is Tinbigha? | Map of Tinbigha? |
| Any photos available? | Historical Background? | Current Status? |
Tinbigha is a strip of land lying in the south-east of Mekhliganj Block of Cooch Behar District of West Bengal State in India. Geographically it lies surrounded by Fulkadabri Gram Panchayat (in the north) & Kuchlibari Gram Panchayat (in the south), both belonging to India, and by Dahagram (in the west) & Panbari Mouza (in the east), both belonging to Bangladesh respectively.
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see location in CoB or Close view |
Profile :
The Tin Bigha strip of land situated 10 KM. south east of Mekhliganj measures 178 meters X 85 meters, comprises parts of 146 Upanchowki Mouja of Kuchlibari and 139 Fulkadabri of Kashiabari Mouja in Mekhliganj Block. It is located strategically between the Bangladesh enclaves of Dahagram and Angorpota on the west and Panbari Mouza of Bangladesh on the east. Both the enclaves fall within the jurisdiction of Patgram police Station of Bangladesh.
The Tin Bigha strip holds a very important position, as this is the only channel of communication between the Kuchlibari Gram Panchayat on south-eastern side of Mekhliganj (Cooch Behar) through the Mekhliganj dhaprahat metalled road. The inhabitants of Kuchlibalri depend on Mekhliganj Subdivisional Headquarter town for law and order, development, trade, business, commerce and court matters.
Location of Tinbigha :
The strip of land lies in the Cooch Behar District of West Bengal, India. To better know about the geographical location look at the Map below : Detailed Map/Close View
Map of Tinbigha :
Photographies are not available and/or not published due to administrative secrecy. But to have an idea of its location, go through the following Map of the area surrounding Tinbigha :
Historical Background :
The erstwhile Cooch Behar state had enclaves in British Indian districts and vice versa, but the enclave dwellers had no trouble in any matter as access was free. The then Kuchlibari Anchal was connected with Mekhliganj by a road known as Dinhata-Mekhliganj Road passing through Dahagram. After partition, and the merger of Cooch Behar with India, and the introducltion of passport system, the inhabitants were subjected to many problems, especially as the road passing through Dahagram was closed to Indian citizens. After this a road known as Mekhliganj-Dhaprahat road leading to Kuchlibalri was constructed along the fringe of Dahagram and Angorpota passing through Tin Bigha and this has been the only link between Mekhliganj and Kuchlibalri.
Prior to the merger of erstwhile Cooch Behar state with Indian Dominion, the Bengal Boundary Commission was constituted by the announcement of the Governor General, dated the 30th June, 1947 comprising Mr. Justice Bijan Kr. Mukherjee, Mr. Justice C. C. Biswas, Mr. Justice A. S. Mohammad Akram and Mr. Justice S. A. Rahaman as its members headed by Sir Cyril Radcliffe as Chairman. The Boundary Commision was instructed - "to demarcate boundaries of the two parts of Bengal on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous areas of Muslim and non-Muslim and also taking into account other factors."
In the first conference of the Chief Secretaries of East Bengal and West Bengal Governments held at Dacca on 26th April 1948, it was agreed that neither side will take unilateral survey to demarcate boundary. Then boundary demarcation works were taken up jointly as per approved programme at the joint conference of Director of Land Records and Survey, East Bengal and Director of Land Records and Survey, West Bengal. The Prime Minister of India and Pakistan after frank and friendly discussions from 9th to 11th September, 1958 arrived at agreed settlements in regard to most of the border disputes in the eastern region. It was also agreed that pending the settlement of unresolved dispute and the demarcation & exchange of territory by mutual agreement, there should be no disturbance of status quo by force, and then peace must be maintained.
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Transfer of Enclaves |
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| # INDO - PAK Agreement Check-out | ||
| * Indira - Mujib Agreement, 1974 | ||
| * Indira - Ershad Agreement, 1982 |
* Court Verdict regarding acquisition of Tinbigha |
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Want to know about CURRENT STATUS ?
Permissible Time for Movement of
Bangladesh Traffic through Tinbigha Corridor
As per the agreement between the Govt. of India and Govt. of Bangladesh, the
Tinbigha corridor was inaugurated on 26/06/1992. Initially the people of
bangladesh could use this corridor at every alternate hours from 06:00hrs. to
18:00hrs. Subsequently in the year 2001, Tinbigha corridor used to remain open
for movement of Bangladeshi traffic from 06:00hrs. to 18:00hrs. continuously.
This extension of time limit was objected by some local people under the
banner of Sangram Samity, Kuchlibari. The members mainly belonged to AITMC/BJP
and INC.
Agitation
Of late, an organisation styled as
Bharat Bangladesh Chhit Mahal Binimoy Samannay Committee (Bharat Bangladesh
Enclave Exchange Co-ordination Committee) has taken up the cause of the people
of Indian Enclaves. Dipak Sengupta, (Ex.-MLA and former leader of All India
Forward Block and presently the General Secretary of Janabadi Forward Block -
an organisation having its head office at Sahid corner, Dinhata, Cooch Behar)
launched few agitational programmes over the problems of the enclave dwellers.
On 14th April, 2008, at the instance of the organisation about 2000
inhabitants of different enclaves organised a demonstration in front of the
Office of the District Magistrate, Cooch Behar demanding stoppage of
initiating prosecution under Foreigners Act against the residents of enclaves
both Indian and Bangladeshi till the process of proposed exchange of enclaves
is completed. It was requested by them that who have been already arrested
should be released and allowed to go back to their respective enclaves. They
also proposed that arrangement should be made for supply of electricity and
identity cards issued by B.B.E.E.C.C. should be recognised as I.D. Cards.
Sentiment
of the Indian people :
Indian people in
general are not happy with the Tinbigha Agreement for allowing transit
facility through the corridor to Bangladeshi people without any sanction of
the problems of Indian enclaves. The people residing in Kuchlibari are
aggreived, because they are facing inconveniences in their movement for
interruptions during the time of traffic movement for Bangladesh through the
corridor. Indian people every year observe Sahid Dibash on 26th
June adjacent to Tinbigha to commemorate the deaths of those who died over
Tinbigha agitation.