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Border Demarcation Dispute

People of five Magura, Faridpur villages suffer for years

Hossain Seraj, Magura
A dispute over demarcation between Magura and Faridpur districts has stalled land survey in five bordering villages for the last six years, causing various administrative and social problems.
Unable to obtain proper land documents (porcha), villagers now face difficulties related to marriage registration, selling and buying land, securing bank loans and voter registration.
The stalemate started in 2003 when a group of people from Moina Union filed a writ petition with the High Court, seeking proper demarcation.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Gautam Chandra Pal said as soon as the matter rolled on to the court of justice, all administrative initiatives to resolve the crisis halted.
“Now it is up to the learned court to give us direction in this connection," he added.
The situation is so precarious that people are confused about their own addresses. For instance, the building of the Mohammadpur police station under Magura district stands on a disputed land. Since 1994, people of Moina union parishad (UP) under Faridpur district have claimed the Dhupuria mouza as the territory of their own UP, as ironically the police station is located there.
Previously till the year of 1994, all the five mouzas had been under the jurisdiction of Mohammadpur upazila of Magura district which is located by the river Madhumati, incum-bent chairman of Mohammadpur Sadar union Akteruzzaman said.
People in the areas were also voters of Mohammadpur Sadar UP, whereas people in Moina UP now claim the five mouzas including Dhupuria as their territory which is abso-1 ute 1 y illogical, Akteruzzaman added.
"If their claim is true and Dhupuria mouza turns out as their territory then even the Mohammadpur police station in Magura district also goes into the area of Moina UP which is under Faridpur district", the chairman said. "But how is it possible?", he questioned.
The disputed five mouzas are Dhupuria, Jangalia, Murail (western part), Ruijani and Charborni. They were earlier under Sadar union UP of Mohammadpur upazila in Magura district but for the last 18 years, people of Moina UP have been claiming those as their own territory.
Talking to this correspondent a resident of Dhupuria mouza, Mizanur Rahman Kabul said, "The complication surfaced by the end of the year 1994 when the River Madhumati changed its course, turning several mouzas of its western
bank into its eastern bank. As soon as the river changed its course, people of Moina UP began to claim all the mouzas."
"We cannot collect land documents as the land survey in the mouzas remained postponed for about six years. Land survey in other parts of Mohammadpur Sadar UP started in 2006 and it is now close to completion," Shahidul Islam a teacher of Murail (western part) registered primary school told this correspondent.
Contacted, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mohammad Shamsuddouza, who is also in-charge of Assistant Commissioner (land), admitted the sufferings and deprivation of people due to the complication and said, "As Magura and Faridpur are under two different divisions of Khulna and Dhaka, the dispute is an inter-divisional one and in this context, only the Director General of Land Records and Surveys (DGLRS) department is responsible to resolve the dispute".
Deputy director of DGLRS Kongkham Nilmani Singha said DGLRS could only take initiative in this regard if there was no legal barrier. “Moreover we need to be officially notified by the respective deputy commissioners (DCs)," Singha added.
Magura DC Sushanta Kumar Saha said they had notified the DGLRS, but there was an on-going case at the High Court in this regard. We need to wait until the case is disposed, he added.
In Murail mouza, at least 2000 people including 1,223 voters live. There are many couples in the village who live under the same roofs but are registered as voters in two separate districts. Two brothers were also found who reside in the same house but cast to vote in separate districts.
"You will find at least 120 families here who are voters from different districts", said Hafizur Rahman a youth of Murail village.
Chairman of Mohammadpur UP Akteruzzaman, however, alleged that some unscrupulous people in Moina UP have enlisted many inno-cent people of Mohammadpur UP as their voters in a bid to increase support for their claim.
When contacted over cell phone, chairman of Moina UP in Boalmari upazila Mohammad Shafikul Azam refuted the allegation of Akteruzzaman and claimed that people of Murail voluntarily registered themselves as voters of Moina UP
Contacted, lawmaker of the constituency (Mohammadpur-Shalikha) advocate Biren Shikder said he tried to resolve the dispute by holding meetings with all the parties.
“I am really sorry as the people are suffering much. I shall soon take steps to remove the legal barriers and resolve the crisis,” the lawmaker said.