Thousands of defunct enclave residents who opted for Indian citizenship and are waiting for repatriation, have begun to receive travel-cum-identity pass from Indian authority on Monday.
The passes are being distributed to all 111 former enclave dwellers who have opted to retain their Indian nationality.
Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran inaugurated the first camp for distributing the ID passes at Debiganj upazila rest house on Monday morning.
Indian Deputy High Commissioner in Rajshahi Sandip Mitra, First Secretary Romakanto Gupto, Debiganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Safiqul Islam and Additional District Magistrate Mohammad Golam Azam were present at the event.
The distribution of temporary Travel-ID has begun in 59 defunct enclaves in Lalmonirhat, 36 in Panchagarh and 12 former enclaves in Kurigram districts.
A total of 987 residents of total 111 former enclaves in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Panchagarh have opted for Indian nationality. The residents of four enclaves of Niplhamari opted to live in their ancestral homesteads and adopt Bangladesh as their nationality, the officials said.
The Travel-ID of the former enclave dwellers will be required to migrate to India and enable the local civil administrations in India and Bangladesh to coordinate their repatriation and sale of immoveable properties, like agricultural land and homesteads.
According to an agreement reached between Bangladesh and India, all the Indian nationals will begin trekking into India through designated check-posts from November 1 and 30, according to Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
However, the Indian nationals who have received Travel-ID are eligible for travel to check-out various facilities offered by Indian authority through Changrabandha check post only and return to Bangladesh through the same check post.
The Indian nationals living in Bangladesh territory were urged to sell all their properties before the deadline of November.
The Indian authority will provide all facilities, including transportation of household goods and moveable items and temporary settlements in Cooch Bihar district, in West Bengal.
Bangladesh and India on June 6 signed and exchanged the historic instruments of ratification on Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) formalising the long-pending issue between the two countries.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque and Indian External Affairs Secretary Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar exchanged the documents on behalf of their respective countries.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi witnessed the exchange of ratification instruments.
The LBA was implemented with effect from the midnight of July 31, 2015.