Offer from German resident gives hope to stateless in India,Bangladesh

Organisation working with 162 enclaves says Hamburg woman could open route

There are nearly 51,000 people living in 162 enclaves located in the border districts of India and Bangladesh. With no country to call their own,these people had been deprived of proper education,healthcare facilities and other basic amenities ever since the division of Bengal. In September 2011,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina signed a protocol for exchange of these inhabitants and giving them citizenship. The agreement has made little headway towards implementation,and the fate of these people still hangs in balance.

But things are looking up for at least one of the inhabitants for now,which gives hope to others too for a better future.

A German woman of Polish origin has expressed wish to financially support a girl child of an enclave-dweller. Gabriela Korzeniec,a mother of two,has contacted Diptiman Sengupta,secretary of the India-Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC),asking for help in this regard.

Gabriela,who works as an accountant and lives in Hamburg,has also appealed to the Coochbehar district administration for advising her about the course of action required to be taken for helping the child. In an e-mail to The Indian Express,Gabriela said she had also contacted the Indian embassy in Munich.

In her request to Sengupta,Gabriela urged his organisation to select the beneficiary. The letter reads: I am not wealthy but I would like to donate some money for this good cause. I have decided to transfer 100 Euro to the account of your organization every three months and I hope that your organization will hand this over to the childs family.

Confirming that he has received the request,Sengupta said: …she wanted to know about the life of an enclave-dweller and also what could be the expenses for education of a child there. After I could satisfy her queries,she sent the official letter to me with her proposal.

He said this could well be a turning point for their movement for the enclave dwellers. It might be a small news but the significance of this is huge to us. At a time when the governments and the political parties have pushed these stateless people to the brink,a citizen of a European country who had never been to this place is moved by their plight and wants to support a child. I have advised her to write to our district magistrate,informing him about her wish and she has agreed, he said.

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The BBEECC has already nominated two girls one from the Indian enclaves and the other from a Bangladesh enclave. Sengupta said despite being asked to look for one they nominated two to be fair to both sides.

We have selected an eight-year-old girl who has lost her father. …she has been visually impaired since birth and is studying in a school for the hearing and speech impaired in Coochbehar. We are waiting for the name of a child from our counterparts in Bangladesh. We will send the details of these two kids and Gabriela will select one, said Sengupta.

Gabriela said she would like to come and see her godchild one day. I expect that till then the child will be able to speak English and we will communicate to each other.

In her e-mail,the single parent of a 22-year-old daughter and a 23-year-old son said: Last year,I read some articles on the enclaves in India and Bangladesh. The condition of the people was paining me. …I am not very wealthy,but I have a small wish to see a child well educated from the area. My effort might inspire others to work for the cause.