The Fence-sitters

Joshnas mother,after all,lives on the wrong side of the border,and visiting your mother is deemed too trivial a cause by the BSF to allow one to cross the border.

No run-of-the-mill election issues are found in this border constituency as Malda shares a border of approximately 162 km with Bangladesh,of which 75 km falls within the Malda South constituency. Parts of the erstwhile Kaliachowk and the current English Bazaar Assembly constituencies fall within this area. Abdur Razzaque,the CPIM candidate from Malda South,is banking heavily on border issues to swing the votes away from Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury,his opponent from the Congress.

After the Malda border with Bangladesh was fenced,around 5,000 acres of land home to around 2,000 families was left between the barbed fence and the no-mans-land. According to CPIMs Biswanath Ghosh,the local MLA,70 per cent of these people depend on agriculture for their sustenance. The sealing of the border affected most farmers of the area,as their land got divided by the fence.

Our MLA feels these people have some genuine issues that need to be sorted out. This can only be done by talking, says CPIM supporter Samir Ghosh,adding Biswanath Ghosh had defeated Choudhury in the last Assembly elections.

Mirtullah Sheikh of Garmahala village,which has approximately 700 voters,says: Most people like me face the same problem. As many as 40 bighas of my land is across the fence; a mere 10 bighas remain here. We grow wheat,paddy,corn etc on our land across the fence. But the gates close at 6 pm,and we are unable to safeguard our crop at night.

According to Sheikh and others,people from across the border steal their crop and burn them. With no watchtowers and floodlights,keeping an eye on the crop becomes impossible. We have entered into a deal with some of the miscreants from the other side. Once the crop is ready for harvest,we share half the produce with them. At least something is better than nothing, says a resident of the village.

While corn and sugarcane are profitable crops in the area,neither can be grown on account of security reasons as the BSF has decreed that up to 20 metres on either side of the fencing,growing of any crop above 3 feet would not be allowed. I was growing corn all this while. I dont know if I will be able to switch to paddy, says a farmer.

Villagers of the border area whose land has been divided are allowed to cross over through gates constructed by the Central Public Works Department,and given ID cards by the BSF. An entry is made of the items that are carried,and a cross-check is done when these people return. The gate is supposed to be left open between 6 am and 6 pm. But that is not the case. Students miss their examinations,patients cannot be taken to the hospital in case of emergency and villagers on either side find it difficult to visit their relatives living on the other side. A lot of women like me here earn their living by tying bidis. We have to get leaves from across the fence and when we are done,we have to supply the ready bidis to the factory,which is also located across the fence. At times we wait for hours for the BSF jawans to open the gate, says Jhuma Singha,adding the absence of women BSF personnel makes matters worse for them.

In areas like Mahadipur,Milik Sultanpur and Sasani,about 50 km from Malda town,voters say they are tired of living on the BSF whims and fancies. Our house lies next to the fence. After 5 pm,we are not allowed to use the terrace or sit on the verandah. Even in this scorching heat,we cannot sleep on the terrace at night, says Piya Singha,whose house falls under the Sasani border outpost.

The BSF,however,says frisking is important as smuggling of fake currency,sugar,leather and manure have been on the rise over the past few years. Smuggling of cattle is rampant here. A corrupt jawan can earn up to Rs 7,000 by smuggling a pair of cows,so we do not want them to have the keys to the gate at all times, says a commanding officer.

The problems they face have made many cynics. There have been so many elections,but has our condition improved even marginally? asks Joshna.