‘Please, take us back’

Prianka Majumder had planned to stay in Bangladesh for 20 days when she along with her husband and daughter came to the country on March 8 to attend her cousin's wedding in Barishal's Gournadi.

Little did she know that her 20 days in Bangladesh would stretch up to five months with no sign of possibility for immediate return to her country in sight.

The 25-year-old makeup artist from West Bengal's Uttar Chabbis Porgona district has been stuck here all these months with her three-year-old daughter due to the lockdown and travel restrictions imposed for Covid-19 pandemic.

Her husband, however, returned to India on March 14, following media reports that the Indian border with Bangladesh is going to be closed from March 15.

"We [she and her daughter] did not go [with him] as we thought the situation will become normal. We never thought that we'll be stuck here for more than five months," Priakna told The Daily Star.

Priakna called this correspondent first on Saturday night after collecting his mobile phone number from one of her acquaintances. The correspondent again phoned her on Sunday.

"How does it feel to stay in a relative's house for such a long time? My daughter cries every night for her father but I can't help… We want nothing but to go home immediately. It is not possible to live like this," she said, with a cracked voice.

Like Prianka, around 2,500 Indian citizens got stranded in Bangladesh and are passing hard times.

Many of them maintain regular contacts with Indian High Commission in Dhaka, which says it is yet to receive any instruction regarding them.

Frustrated, a number of stranded Indian citizens, many of whom are connected through WhatsApp, are planning to stage a demonstration at Benapole on August 24, seeking steps from Indian authorities about their return.

Early this month, India's Ministry of External Affairs sought approval from West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee-led government to take back the state's 2,680 people stranded in Bangladesh since the Covid-19 lockdown began in March.

In a letter dated August 7, it stated that 2,399 people want to return to their villages in West Bengal through the Petrapole-Benapole integrated check post (ICP), while 281 people want to enter through Phulbari-Banglabandha border, reported Indian news portal The Print.

The letter, sent by MEA's Additional Secretary Vikram Doraiswami to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, stated that the stranded people are "unskilled or semi-skilled" labourers, and have been living in "extreme distress" under the lockdown, with no financial support.

"They are all from weaker sections of our society. Many are living in extreme distress, including sheltering in school verandas or public parks, and are increasingly desperate to return home. It is not feasible for them to fly home; they can only hope to return if they are allowed to travel by rail or road."

It said Delhi has offered to arrange trains and vehicles for them once the West Bengal government approves.

THE SUFFERINGS

Seventy-year-old Sheikh Ali Mortuza and his wife came to Dhaka for a visit with their relatives in mid-February but found the Benapole border closed just days before they were due to leave in March.

They are residents of Murshidabad in West Bengal. For them, days pass by slowly in Dhaka -- and even the joy of meeting and spending time with relatives turns tedious on some days since there is no news about when they can return back home.

Partha Paul Chowdhury has also been stuck in Bangladesh for five months after he, his mother and an aunt arrived on March 8 to attend a programme at his maternal uncle's house in Ullapra of Sirajganj.

"I am in constant touch with the High Commission in Dhaka. Initially, they would say that they were working on it, ushering in hope for our return. But now they say they can't send us back as the West Bengal government is not giving permission," he told The Daily Star on Sunday.

In the meantime, his mother's medicines, brought from India, ran out. She has several health complications including that in heart and liver.

"My mother is now very sick. She is suffering from hypertension. Who will take responsibility if my mother dies here," said Partha, who is from Shiliguri.

He said several special flights operated between Dhaka and Delhi in the last two to three months, but it was not possible for them to afford those.

Partha said they came to know from the media that the Indian government is allowing Bangladeshi people to go to India on emergency grounds taking special permission from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. The high commission will take same steps for the standard Indian too, he said.

But when they contacted the high commission, its officials termed it rumour, he said.

"Now our only request to my chief minister [of West Bengal] and the Indian government: please take us back," he said.

Some of them have other problems too.

Prianka said she has multiple visas for six months with permission to stay in Bangladesh for two months at a stretch. But she is now in Bangladesh for the last five months.

"When I talked with one visa official here, he said I have to pay Tk 200 for each of 15 days after the two-month period and Tk 500 each after 75 days. Where will I get the money when I am facing hardship with my daughter?" she said.

This newspaper contacted Indian High Commission in Dhaka earlier this month when Indian news portal The Print published a report on the issue.

An official there said the borders might open soon and they would be sent back then.

Contacted on Sunday, the high commission declined to make any comment in this regard.