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As political parties and the All Assam Students Union protest against the India-Bangladesh land pact signed on September 6 in Dhaka, the governor of Assam has called for a special one-day session of the Assam assembly on October 17 to discus the issue, as demanded by the opposition parties.
The pact was signed when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh visited Bangladesh along with four chief ministers of north eastern states, including Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi.
However, the pact has sparked vociferous protests by opposition Asom Gana Parishad, Bharatiya Janata Party and the All Assam Students' Union in Assam accusing the government of India of handing over Assam's land to Bangladesh with the consent of the people of Assam.
The opposition parties have demanded a special session in the assembly to discuss the matter and accused chief minister Gogoi of not caring to discuss the matter in the state assembly earlier.
Meanwhile, a team of senior leaders of the BJP comprising Rajiv Pratap Rudi, P Chandrasekhar, P Muralidharan Rao, MP Bijoya Chakraborty, MLAs Ranjit Das and Prasanta Phukon on Wednesday made a on the spot study of the disputed Boraibari border area in Mankachar sector Dhubri district.
Chief Minister Gogoi, however, said that the land-pact will provide Assam with 1240 acres of disputed border land while Bangladesh will get only 357.4 acres. He said Bangladesh would get 193 acres of adversely possessed land at Boraibari in Mankachar sector of Dhubri district and 74.5 acres land out of total 455 acres in Pallathal Tea Estate in Karimganj district.
"In case of the 714 acres that has not been demarcated in Latitila-Dumabari in Karimganj district, the dispute has been resolved regarding the 3 kilometer stretch of unfenced border and now Bangladesh will get only 90 acres of the area. The government of India has rejected Bangladesh's claim over 145 acres of adversely possessed land at Naygaon in Karimganj district and they have accepted it," Gogoi said.
He has already informed the ruling Congress MLAS and the district Congress presidents about the facts of the land pact to counter the 'baseless' and 'motivated' agitation launched by opposition parties.