Nod to boosting infrastructure in enclaves received from Bangladesh

The union cabinet on Wednesday approved rehabilitation package and upgrading infrastructure of the "Bangladeshi enclaves" and of Cooch Behar district of West Bengal following exchange of Indo-Bangla enclaves.

The decision was taken at cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

An official release said the total financial implication for the decision, that also includes uprgrading infrastructure of Cooch Behar district, was about Rs.1,005.99 crore.

The financial implication includes Rs.898.50 crore as the fixed cost of strengthening and creating infrastructure and a variable cost of Rs.107.49 crore likely to be incurred for the rehabilitation.

The actual variable cost would depend upon the actual number of families returning to India, the release said.

"All the works will be implemented by the state government or its agencies in a time-frame of 3-5 years, and funds would be released by the home affairs ministry to the state government as grant-in-aid," it said.

The release said the decisions had been taken following proposals from the West Bengal government.

The government announced last month that the first batch of 62 people have arrived from Bangladesh following India's exchange of enclaves with its neighbour earlier this year.

Following the Land Boundary Agreement, Bangladesh and India exchanged 162 adversely-held enclaves on August 1.