Taking advantage of the total absence of any administrative setup or law enforcing agencies, residents of the Bangladeshi and Indian enclaves have taken to widespread cultivation of cannabis this season. The enclaves are like no-man's land and the residents stateless, without any identity, since the geographical boundaries are yet to be clearly demarcated between the two countries.

According to secret "inputs" reaching police agencies in Kolkata, residents have cultivated the banned crop from which various kinds of drugs are produced. According to an approximate estimate of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), cannabis have been grown on at least 1,000 bighas of land in the Bangladeshi enclaves in Cooch Behar district in north Bengal. Paddy, wheat or jute, almost all got replaced in cultivable lands this year.

The Bangladeshi enclaves in India which are treated as foreign land do not have the rule of law and the administration cannot enter the enclaves to control the farming of cannabis in the area. Even though the protocol on enclave exchange has been signed in September, 2011, the enclave dwellers are still waiting for the exchange treaty to be implemented. Significantly, the Enclave Exchange bill is not likely to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament.

According to a senior official of NCB, the residents of the enclaves have links with several narcotic dealers in the city who sponsor the cultivation of the banned crop there as the land is out of the reach of the police and administration. Diptiman Sengupta, secretary of Indo-Bangladesh enclave exchange coordination committee said, "The residents of the enclaves have to survive. We have waited for a long time and we are still patient. Last year, we resisted several narcotic dealers from entering the enclaves and fixing a deal here. However, this year, we did not resist them. We have to think how the population of 50,000 will survive if the government does not care for them."

According to sources in NCB, the cannabis cultivation has been traced in some of the hostile enclaves including Poaturkuthi, Bahalichara, Malgram, Khalnapur, Jongra, East Mashaladanga, Karola and Bakrgachi.

A senior NCB official said, "We have received information that cannabis have been cultivated on more 1,000 bighas of land in the enclaves. The crop is being sold for a huge price. Taking advantage of the enclave issue and the absence of police and administration, the narcotic dealers have zeroed in on the area as a potential cultivating zone. In 2011, we tried to destroy some crops in the enclaves, but it was not possible due to diplomatic issues. This year we have conducted meetings with the district administration to hold a meeting with the enclave dwellers so that the crop can be destroyed before it goes out to the market."

NCB officials said the stretch of NH-31 from river Sankosh on Assam-Bengal border of Coochbehar district to Islampore of North Dinajpore on the Bengal-Bihar border via Jalpaiguri district and Siliguri, is known as the 'Siliguri Corridor.' With Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and Bangladesh at close proximity (within 100 km), this is a golden route for the traffickers to get access to global markets through these neighbouring nations.

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