Hasina stopover today

Hasina, Ramesh New Delhi, Oct.18: When Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina makes a 20-minute stopover at the Teen Bigha Corridor tomorrow, she will be welcomed by two Indian ministers on the Indian side. Union home minister P. Chidambaram, who was to receive her and hold a 20-minute discussion literally by the roadside when Hasina crosses the corridor, had to call off the visit because of his mother’s ill health. Chidambaram is in Tamil Nadu. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and minister of state for home Jitendra Singh will stand in for Chidambaram. “I will be going but I do not know if there would be discussions. I have been told only a short while back,” Ramesh told The Telegraph. Chidambaram’s absence suggests discussion on a vital subject — he was to ask Hasina about handing over Ulfa leader Anup Chetia to India —is unlikely. Talks with the Ulfa are scheduled for the last week of this month. However, Ramesh’s relations with the Dhaka establishment go back to his days as a junior commerce minister when he pressed for transit rights through Bangladesh to help the Northeast. Hasina is visiting the Bangladeshi enclave — Dahagram-Angorpota — for the first time after India gave 24-hour access across the corridor to Bangladeshi citizens. The clearance came during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka in September. Dahagram-Angorpota is a patch of Bangladeshi land in the middle of Indian territory. Hasina will inaugurate projects on electricity and water supply and a 10-bed hospital and spend about an hour and 15 minutes in the enclaves on Wednesday morning. While crossing the 178m-by-85m corridor that India has leased to Dhaka, the ministers will hold a courtesy meeting with Hasina. The Indian ministers will take a chopper from Bagdogra and land right in the middle of the corridor beside the BSF border outpost, sources said. Hasina will be accompanied by her home minister, education minister and power minister from Dhaka. The Indian ministers will be accompanied by a joint secretary of the home ministry. The Indian high commissioner in Dhaka and the deputy high commissioner will also be present at the corridor.