Rejaul Mondal (65), is a permanent resident of
Boyra Uttar Para village under the Baghda Block of North
24 Parganas district in West Bengal and is a citizen of
India.
But his Kitchen is in India and bed room in Bangladesh.
Don’t be puzzled for it is a reality!
Local people know him as citizen of `India-Bangladesh’
and Border Security Force (BSF) of India and Border
Guard Bangladesh know Rejaul Mondal as resident of
39/11S Pillar.
The partition of the country in 1947 had divided many
families, but the story of Rejaul is most intriguing. His
house is right on the border and is divided between
India and Bangladesh.
Rejaul Mondal was born in India and his father,
grandfather were all born in this part of the country that
is present India. According to Mondal, his family
belonged to the village elite, but they lost most of the
properties, including land in partition. He is now left
only with 16 Bighas land, half of which is in India and
the other half in the neighbouring Bangladesh. What is
even more interesting is that he pays land revenue in
both the countries. For years he use to cultivate his land
in Bangladesh and bring back crops to India, after going
through proper document verification by security
agencies of both countries to prove that he is an Indian
citizen. However, the border security forces are stricter
now and he is unable to bring back crops, as his field is
on the other side of the wired-fences.
Every time Mondal needs to visit his field on the other
side of the fences, he has to deposit his Voter Identity
card at the local BSF check post and thus his free-
movement is restricted in his own land.
On the other side of the North Boyra village, beyond
wired fences is Gadadharpur village of Bangladesh.
Gadadharpur village is under the sub-district of
Chougacha of Jessore district of Bangladesh. According
to paper records of Gadadharpur, Rejaul Mondal is
marked as resident of that village too, since he pays
revenues and taxes there.
Rejaul Mondal told TCN that, last year he paid the tax
amount of Rupees 100 to the Swarupdaha Union
Parishad of Bangladesh.
Narrating the interesting story of his ‘divided house’
between India and Bangladesh, he told TCN that surveys
were done thrice in the border area and each time, they
decided that my home is right at the border and hence
in between my house “39/11S Pillar” was erected.
Consequently his house got divided between two
countries, and thus while his bed-room is now in
Bangladesh, his kitchen, along with rice yard and cow
shed fell in India.
Pointing to his dilapidated house, Mondal says that he
is not allowed to even rebuild a concrete house in its
place.
There are about 60 families living in the Boyra Uttarpara
village, but they all are ‘full’ residents of India, and only
Mondal’s house is right at the border. The yard outside
his house is on Indian soil, and the local Boyra
Grampanchayet leveled it by putting layers of soil cut
from Mondal’s land in Bangladesh.
Rejaul Mondal has no qualms though and is a satisfied
man. He has four sons - Yarul, Amirul, Habibur and
Hafizur and two daughters - Marjina and Selina.
Youngest Hafizur has got job in West Bengal Police.
Asked if they ever thought of settling in Bangladesh,
wife of Hafizur Aleya Mondal says that they are happy
here, and living peacefully and has no plans to settle in
the neighbouring country. Rejaul nodded his head in
agreement, adding, as ‘half’ resident both of India and
Pakistan, he feels, he can become a symbol of
brotherhood between the two neighbours