Beyond the Fence: Villagers in Ahio seek development in upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls

Habibpur Border (Ahio): The River Tangon separates India and Bangladesh. Houses situated on the banks of the river on the Bangladesh side area are clearly visible to Indians. In Habibpur on the Indian side, where the iron fencing ends, stands the BSF naka outpost, which maintains a tight vigil on infiltrators.

On the banks of the river, people have been residing here for more than 40 years. Most of them go to Malda town for work and return to the villages daily or weekly. Despite being a border area, many villagers said that "Infiltration is not a problem" in the area. However, they pointed out the lack of development here. People complained about the area lacking basic health infrastructure with the single primary health centre closed for more than 15 years after the doctor here retired. The Primary Health Centre in Ahio catered to 18,000 people.

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Debi Halder, who lives next door to the Primary Health Centre building, told ET, "For any ailment now, we have to travel to Bulbulchandi hospital, which is the nearest one. For serious ailments, people take the help of private practitioners in Ahio Bazar. Earlier, just a Rs 1 ticket was needed to see a doctor in this health centre."

Former deputy pradhan (upo-pradhan) Pratap Das said, "I have tried hard at various levels to have the health centre opened again but to no avail." Most of the residents in the area had come as Hindu refugees during Partition or during the Bangladesh war in 1971. Utpal Saha, who runs a medicine shop in Ahio Bazar area, said he used to study in Pabna school in Bangladesh. "My family had migrated and we have been living in Ahio area for more than 50 years. I opened a medicine shop 40 years back," Utpal Saha told ET. He said, "There is some infiltration in Habibpur. They start by running errands, take refuge in the local neighbour's house and then go to Malda for work. "However, now with the BSF vigil, it is pretty low," he said.

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The azaan sounded in Bangladesh can be heard in Ahio Bazar, which explains the proximity it has with the Indian side. Locals claim that infiltration is a major problem in other areas of Habibpur, though not in Ahio particularly. Union home minister Amit Shah has been highlighting the infiltration problem and the delay in fencing due to land acquisition problems in Bengal.

Fencing work in Malda, close to the Bangladesh border, had to be suspended following differences between Border Guard Bangladesh and BSF last year. Malda shares a 172-km-long border with Bangladesh, of which 31.5 km remain unprotected.