The auto-rickshaw driver was puzzled when I mentioned my destination. “Tin Bigha Corridor?” he repeated slowly, and asked again: “You want to go to Bangladesh border?”
Not exactly, I explained.
I was planning to visit the 178 x 85 metre strip of Indian land that hundreds of Bangladeshi uses every day without passport or visa. An experience that probably exists nowhere else on the planet.
I could understand his confusion. Many Indians might have heard of this place but do not know about it in detail. Here, a part of Indian territory, daily uses freely by Bangladeshis without passport, visa or any formalities.
Two hours later, after navigating rural West Bengal’s narrow roads, we arrived at what locals call “the most complicated piece of land in South Asia”, the “Tin Bigha Corridor”.
The first thing that strikes you about “Tin Bigha” is not its political significance; it is how ordinary it looks. There is nothing exceptional to point out to its differentiated identity but you can understand its significance if you stand a while near the place and see the hundreds of Bangladeshi commuters, especially E-rickshaw with full capacity, travelling freely through the Indian territory without frisking, checking or most importantly, without passport or visa.
There is a narrow paved road that stretches between two sets of gates. Both the sides of the roads are flanked ornamental and fruits bearing plants like thuja, cactus, guava and litchi planted by the prominent personalities such as H.E. Sheikh Hasina, the ex- PM Bangladesh, H. E. Amit Shah, the Minister of Home Affairs, India, and so many important personalities. This speaks the significance of the small strip of Indian land the Tin Bigha.
Four Indian flags flutter from iron pole in all the four corners and one at the centre of the strip of land, a reminder that the Tin Bigha is part of sovereign Indian territory. Border Security Force personnel stand at checkposts, their presence a routine. Yet it is surreal too. They’re Indian soldiers essentially guarding a highway for exclusive use by Bangladeshi citizens traveling between two parts of their own country.
But to understand that you must also know the historical forces that shaped it. West Bengal’s eastern border with Bangladesh was a complex border puzzle. There were162 enclaves or chitmahals (111 Indian and 51 Bangladeshi) scattered across both sides of the international boundary
Enclaves are pockets of territory belonging to one country but completely surrounded by the other, some containing counter-enclaves and even a unique counter-counter-enclave.
The legacy traces back to arrangements between the Kingdom of Koch Bihar and the Rangpur, two Princely states was never properly demarcated even after independence of India and Pakistan.
The 2015 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh addressed this through the largest of its kind territorial exchange in modern history. India transferred 111 enclaves (covering 17,160 acres) to Bangladesh, while the latter handed over 51 enclaves (covering 7,110 acres) and over 50,000 people received citizenship.
But one enclave was kept out of this massive exchange.
The Dahagram-Angarpota enclave, essentially Bangladeshi territory, is fully surrounded by India. Its 30,000 plus residents are Bangladeshi citizens who, until 1992, were largely captive in their own country. They could see Bangladesh from their rooftops but couldn’t reach it without crossing international boundary twice.
The original plan was different. Under the 1974 Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Mujibur Rahman treaty, popularly known as Indira-Mujib agreement, India was to hand over the Tin Bigha Corridor to Bangladesh in exchange for South Berubari (another disputed territory of present West Bengal state of India.)
Bangladesh transferred South Berubari to India in 1974 as per the agreement between the two countries, but India couldn’t reciprocate as it required a constitutional amendment that was politically difficult to achieve at this point of time.
After 18 years and series of bilateral discussions, a compromise emerged. An agreement was signed in 1992 to create something unprecedented: India leased the corridor to Bangladesh enabling Bangladeshi nationals to travel between their mainland and the enclave without requiring Indian visas or permissions, thus providing a facility for unfettered movement for Bangladeshi citizens through a part of sovereign Indian territory.
Walking alongside the corridor, I watch the morning rush hour unfold. Several farmers pedal bicycles loaded with vegetables and children in school uniforms cross what is, technically, foreign soil on their daily commute.
I could see the Border Guard Bangladesh personnel, smartly dressed in disruptive fatigue (different from the Indian BSF attire), standing with weapons near the gates on Bangladesh side to protect the Bangladeshi citizens – again an example of mutual commitment and understanding between the two border guarding force i.e. Border Security Force India and Border Guard Bangladesh.
The corridor exists in a space where normal rules bend. The place is intersected by the Kuchlibari-Mekhliganj road connecting two portions of Indian territory and have traffic of both the countries. The traffic is managed by a Indian policeman who stands at the intersecting point where Indian and Bangladeshi traffic routes intersect. The laws of both countries apply simultaneously.
Residents of Bangladeshi enclave i.e. “Dahagram-Angarpota” – remember a bitter past. The enclave lacked basic infrastructure; there were no hospitals, no colleges, and limited electricity. The corridor’s opening in 1992, even with restricted hours, brought a positive change. Initially open just six hours daily, access expanded to 12 daylight hours in 1996. Suddenly the Bangladeshis could visit relatives, buy medicine and send children to better schools.
The transformation accelerated dramatically in 2011 when the then Prime Ministers from both the countries, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sheikh Hasina, signed a treaty on September 6th making the corridor a 24-hour passage. Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the round-the-clock access on October 19, 2011, also opening the enclave’s first 10-bed hospital.
But there are complications too. The passage that once carried desperate families now hosts an informal economy. BSF officers speak about “monitoring challenges” where enforcement jurisdiction can be ambiguous. Under the lease terms, Bangladeshis passing through are not frisked and face no document checks, creating opportunities for illegal infiltration/exfiltration smuggling cattle, contraband, and other illicit goods.
The corridor has fresh relevance in the wake of Bangladesh’s political upheaval. The new leadership has assured India that minorities, including Hindus, will be protected. It is a crucial concern given that the Dahagram-Angarpota enclave, while majority Muslim, also has Hindu families.
Standing at the corridor, I’m struck by this tiny piece of land. Looking back in history, the Radcliffe Line, drawn in 1947 by a British lawyer who had never visited India, created many anomalies, with many having to be resolved through population transfers, border adjustments, or even abandonment.
Tin Bigha survived because abandoning it meant abandoning people. Today, it is a testament to the subcontinent’s complex geopolitics and a living reminder that creative diplomacy can bring workable solutions to life.
As the Bangladeshi flag comes down and gates prepare to close for the night’s ceremony, the corridor empties. For one hour each evening, this strip of land returns fully to India.
Tomorrow morning, the gates will reopen, and life will resume its rhythm in this corner of the world where history’s mistakes are being rectified through India’s genuine concern for humanity.
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