The Malda administration on Wednesday got in touch with the BSF brass to address the problems of the people living in Milik Sultanpur village amid complaints that restrictions imposed by the men guarding the India-Bangladesh border had severely curbed the freedom of the residents.

The Telegraph in a report on Wednesday highlighted the challenges faced by the people of Milik Sultanpur in Kaliachak III block.

“We are aware of what happens at Milik Sultanpur. The solution as it appears is to construct a small bridge or a box-culvert on the Pagla river that flows near the international border. Once the bridge is built, the drop gate could be shifted and the villagers of Milik Sultanpur could heave a sigh of relief,” Rajarshi Mitra, the district magistrate of Malda, told this newspaper.

“I have verbally taken up the matter with the officials of the BSF and hopefully the issue would be addressed,” Mitra added.

However, some senior district police and civil administration officials said on condition of anonymity that tight vigil by the BSF in the area was a must as smuggling of drugs and psychotropic substances, fake currency, cattle and other goods was rampant in areas like Milik Sultanpur that come under the Golapganj police outpost.

Residents of Milik Sultanpur, however, said the police and the BSF should curb smuggling, infiltration and ex-filtration through proper vigilance instead of suspecting everyone living in the area.

The Left parties have demanded that the drop-gate installed by the BSF at the entrance of Milik Sultanpur — which is being cited by the villagers as the stumbling block to their freedom of movement — be shifted.

Mohammed Salim, a politburo member of the CPM, told this paper over phone from Thiruvananthapuram that he would visit Milik Sultanpur on January 28 along with other leaders of his party.

“The inhabitants of Milik Sultanpur have said nothing in exaggeration. It is just like a detention camp for the families living at Milik Sultanpur. Those villagers are entitled to enjoy as much freedom as the other Indians do. The shifting of the drop-gate is essential so that those innocent families may live a life of honour,” said Biswanath Ghosh, a former CPIM MLA of Kaliachak.

Milik Sultanpur comes under his former Assembly constituency. Ghosh was the first to organise the inhabitants of Milik Sultanpur and take them to the district administrative headquarters in Malda to submit a memorandum.

“We have taken an account of the catastrophe of the inhabitants of Milik Sultanpur. A delegation of our district secretariat will visit the village again. Members of the Ganatantrik Mahila Samity (the women’s wing of the CPM) will also visit the area and speak to the women of the families living at Milik Sultanpur,” said Ambar Mitra, the district Left Front convener.

For the 1,500-odd residents of Milik Sultanpur — a dusty village with cent per cent Muslim population along the India-Bangladesh border but well within Indian territory — a notebook is a must, whether they want to buy a sack of fertiliser or a pack of sanitary napkins. They must submit the notebook with the BSF personnel at the check post before leaving the area to make purchases.