Dhaka, July 19: India and Bangladesh have concluded a joint survey in 162 'enclaves' on both sides of their porous borders so as to prepare the ground for a deal on the dispute during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here in September.
 The enclaves, or areas land-locked by territories belonging to the other side, has been an unresolved border issue since the partition of the subcontinent.
 "We have completed the head counting and hopefully we will be able to prepare the report within this month," Kamal Uddin Ahmed, the Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry, told PTI.
 He said joint teams of officials of the two countries carried out the joint survey during the past three days to find the exact figure of Indian and Bangladesh citizens living in each other's territories since 1947. He said the report would be referred to political leaders for a solution.
 "We expect the long-standing frontier problem, that also includes the issue of 'land in adverse possession' to see a tangible solution during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit in September," a foreign ministry spokesman said.
 Bangladesh and India share over 4,000 kilometres of common porous border, of which 6.1 kilometres is still un-demarcated.
 The two countries have 162 such enclaves -- 111 of them Indian territories inside Bangladesh.
 The Joint Boundary Working Group meeting between the two sides and subsequent home secretary level talks earlier this year had decided to expedite the process of exchanging the enclaves under a 1974 agreement.
 The enclave residents, who are virtually state-less refugees, need to cross the international border every day for cultivation and have to follow the official formalities as well as clearance from paramilitary forces of both countries.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST