Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to ratify border pact with Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: The stage is set for India and Bangladesh to ratify a long-pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) during the visit of foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to Bangladesh on June 25. Swaraj’s visit is also expected to open up avenues for a broader engagement between the two countries.

Top officials in the government told ET that the government was in favour of not only an early resolution of LBA but also of the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement. In return, the government planned to persuade Bangladesh to grant India a land passage to Northeast through its territory.

“For formalising the LBA, India will ask Bangladesh to open the Tetulia corridor for better connectivity between northeast and rest of India. It will facilitate movement of goods and people to the northeast,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

Tetulia is a 4 km corridor in Bangladesh which can reduce the road travel to and from northeast by over 85 km. While India had opened the Tinbigha corridor, the Bangladesh to Bangladesh passage, Dhaka has failed to allow passage through Tetulia.

Before coming to power, BJP was vehemently opposed to Parliament ratifying LBA, although UPA introduced a Constitution amendment bill on LBA in the Rajya Sabha just before the winter session came to an end in December last.

The bill aims to redraw the international boundary between India and Bangladesh by exchanging land enclaves and areas of adverse possession along with the population on either side, thus making the highly incongruous and porous Indo-Bangla border more manageable.

India stands to lose about 400 acres to Bangladesh in the process. “The general feeling was that LBA was heavily in favour of Bangladesh. It is in the best interest of both countries to resolve these issues and move on,” the officer explained.