Indo-Bangla land agreement: Assam tea garden owners oppose deal with Bangladesh

KARIMGANJ: The tea garden owners and the local people of the district have strongly opposed Prime Minister Narendra Modi signing the land swap deal with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina during his visit to the neighbouring country today.

Voicing concern over the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA), Jose Mukhathu, Excutive Director of Madanpore Tea Estate, claimed that the 74.54 acres of land in the Lathitila-Dumabari sector in Karimganj district to be handed over to Bangladesh belonged to the garden.

Mukhathu expressed disappointment over the Central Government's decision to hand over 74.54 acres of land belonging to the garden without informing the estate authority in exchange of 714 acres of the neighbouring country.

He said that by the handing over of the 74.54 acres of land to Bangladesh would cause the tea estate to incur a loss of around Rs 10 crore annually.

Another bordering tea garden Putni Tea Estate, which is a sub-garden of Madanpore Tea Estate, also opposed the government move with its manager stating the garden has been paying revenue for their land for past decades to the Assam Government.

At neighbouring Dumabari near Kukithal, a local Arup Tewari said like him all the villagers there were paying revenue for their land to Patherkandi revenue circle office in Assam, but the people of Bangladesh had possession of their land as it was across the border.