In Lower Assam's Karimganj where the government is engaged in an ambitious plan to fence the Indo-Bangladesh border, there are hundreds of bonafide Indian citizens who are leading a jailed life as their houses are on the Indian soil on the wrong side of the fencing. Election after election, the promise of relocating them is made but never kept, neither by the state or by the Centre.
The porous Bangladesh borders have been a huge electoral issue for Assam. It was said to be the cause of both illegal immigration and cattle smuggling. But now that the fencing is on, hundreds of Indian citizens have been virtually locked out.
Over 70 bonafide Indian families are living on the other side of the border since 10 to 15 years since the fencing began. The residents do not have water or electricity and are living a prisoner's life.
Residents like Dilip Biswas continue to live on the other side of the fence. He votes every year in the hope of some respite but he is yet to be relocated.
"We were promised that we would be given land on this side, but years later nothing has happened," Dilip Biswas said.
The fencing was done a few hundred yards inside the Indian border so all those who had their land and homes in the buffer zone are now trapped.
"We feel as if we live in jail. We are allowed to come in and go out only during a certain time frame," a resident said.
It is difficult to live on the edge of the country and the fervent hope of people living in the area is that this election should change the story of their lives.
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