Ahead of PM Modi's visit to Bangladesh, Prez Pranab gives assent to LBA

New Delhi: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Dhaka later this week, the President has approved the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement which will help India strengthen its ties with its neighbour.

President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Constitution (100th Amendment) Bill, 2015 on May 28 to ratify a 1974 agreement on the demarcation of a section of India-Bangladesh border and transfer of territories, Parliament sources said on Monday. A gazette notification has already been issued.

The 1974 pact was signed between the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and former Bangladesh President Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. It was ratified by Bangladeshi Parliament almost immediately after India ratified it last month.

The sources pointed out that though it was a Constitutional amendment bill, its provisions do not require ratification by 50 percent of the legislatures in 29 states.

Prime Minister Modi is travelling to Dhaka on 6 June and returns on the seventh.

The bill paves the way for demarcating the border as well as an exchange of over 160 enclaves between the two countries. Bangladesh will receive 111 enclaves (17,160 acres) from India’s possession and India will receive 51 enclaves (7,110 acres) from Bangladesh. Enclaves are tiny landlocked territories that each country has within the borders of the other nation.

Tabling the Bill in the Lok Saha in the last budget session of parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had explained that the Modi government managed to assuage concerns of parties like Trinamool Congress that rules West Bengal bordering Bangladesh. On Indian side, all the enclaves to be exchanged are in West Bengal.

Trinamool Congress’ concern was that the state would not be able to look after the influx of people following the exchange of territories. The Modi government has agreed to sanction a little over Rs 3000 crore for their rehabilitation.

The bill, which was ridden with some drafting errors when passed by Parliament, was again passed by Rajya Sabha on May 11. The official amendment was carried out in the short title of the bill. But due to an oversight, the same amendment could not be carried out in the schedules of the bill.

While it was introduced as the 119th Amendment Bill 2013, it should have been passed as 100th Amendment Act 2015. This is because several constitution amendment bills are introduced but the number of those which clear Parliament is less.

PTI