Occasionally during our travels, we encounter soldiers who have served or are serving in the ‘Chicken’s Neck’ i.e. that very thin strip of Indian land in the state of Bengal which links the rump of mainland India with its breathtakingly beautiful, resource rich and strategically important North-East. In fact, the Chicken’s Neck is a 60-kilometre long and 22-kilometre wide stretch running for the greater part through West Bengal.
What we didn’t know until we read Moumita Chaudhuri’s piece is that: “It is 13 kilometres at its narrowest point and 23 kilometres at its widest point, and is home to anything between 25 and 30 lakh people of a variety of ethnicities. This includes Bengali, Dhimal, Rajbanshi, Gorkha, Adivasi, Bihari, Bhutia and Sikkimese. The length of the Chicken’s Neck has Bihar’s Kishanganj at one extremity and Siliguri at the other. The districts of Bengal that overlap with it are Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling; Coochbehar and Alipurduar districts run contiguous to it. The Chicken’s Neck cuts through the populous Siliguri town and this is why it is also known as the Siliguri Corridor… The major navigable rivers flowing through it are Torsa, Teesta, Jaldhaka and Dyna. These stitch the corridor with Nepal and Bhutan.”
Moreover, the corridor is a commercial pipeline of critical importance. Ms Chaudhuri writes: “The corridor is crucial for transit and trade, domestic as well as international. One million vehicles — trucks, buses, SUVs, private cars, two-wheelers — use this corridor every day, transporting 2,400 metric tonnes of goods and generating ₹142 crore of revenue.
Several oil and gas pipelines and electricity grids pass through this region…. Two train lines run through it. One is from Kishanganj in Bihar to New Jalpaiguri Junction in Siliguri. The other is from Kishanganj to Siliguri Junction via Aluabari Road. There are about 19 passenger trains and 10-12 freight trains. The goods trains carry betel nut, rubber, tea, timber, bamboo, petroleum products, coal, black pepper and large cardamom from the Northeast to the rest of India. The passenger trains carry tourists — domestic and foreign — and migrant labourers from the rest of India to the Northeast.”
Then Ms Chaudhuri explains the strategic significance of this thin strip of land: “The corridor touches the states of Bihar and Sikkim and is hemmed in by three countries — Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. But don’t forget China. The southernmost tip of Chumbi Valley in the Tibet Autonomous Region jutting into the Chicken’s Neck may look like a dagger between Sikkim and Bhutan on the map, but is in reality an access point for China opening straight into the corridor…
… retired Lt General Abhay Krishna, who is a former Eastern Army Commander says…” “The corridor lies near the Doklam Plateau and Chumbi Valley, making it vulnerable to potential Chinese advances. Jhamperi Ridge on the Indo-Bhutan border offers a strategic view of the corridor, which is why China had tried to come up to this point during the 2017 Doklam standoff. We had to intervene and stop them.” China can access the corridor from Nathu La, Jelep La and the Kitapsi Heights, all of which are in Sikkim.”…
According to Raj Basu, who is tourism adviser to various state governments, “The Chicken’s Neck is sandwiched between two very important trade routes — one is the ancient Silk Route and the other is the riverine route along the Bay of Bengal. If the Chicken’s Neck is taken away by China, it can combine the two routes. Right now, China has to follow the riverine route around the South China Sea.””
Given all of the above you would imagine that India would guard the Chicken’s Neck tightly, closely – as if our lives depended on it. The reality is a little different inspite of 20 military and police checkposts in the Chicken’s Neck: ““….illegal routes through the forests outnumber them. There are many,” says a customs officer who does not want to be identified. Dense forests cover 30 per cent of the corridor, the major ones being Gorumara National Park, Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, Baikunthapur Forest and Buxa Tiger Reserve….
There are multiple illegal entry points into the corridor and along it, from Nepal, from Bhutan and from Bangladesh. These are reportedly used by smugglers, human traffickers and for insurgency-related activities. The corridor is, therefore, highly susceptible to external influences or disruptions,” says Krishna.
Earlier this month, the Border Security Force and the Border Guard Bangladesh had a standoff when the BSF tried putting up a fence on the Indian side.
Garments, animal hides, elephant tusks, cows, coal, stones, drugs, poppy seed and antiques are smuggled out of India via Nepal and Bangladesh using the corridor. Creatures such as monitor lizards are also smuggled out. “Once a truckload of kangaroos was intercepted near Siliguri. The truck was coming from Myanmar,” says the customs officer.
According to him, such consignments usually wind their way to China down the corridor via Nepal. He continues, “One time, I seized a box loaded with a dozen stolen idols made of black stone. The estimated market value of the idols was around ₹33 crore.”
The Mechi Bridge connecting Kakarvitta in Nepal and Panitanki, which is on the corridor, is notorious as a human trafficking route. Trafficking happens in broad daylight.
“There is no checking, no passport required to walk into India,” claims the customs officer. Drug traffickers from Bhutan enter India through the Jaigaon checkpost that connects to the corridor. While the cow, coal, sand and gold smugglers from Bangladesh enter the corridor from Fulbari, Islampur and Chopra.
According to sources, every month at least 15 to 20 trafficked people including women and children are rescued at the border. The number of people trafficked is much higher”
If you want to read our other published material, please visit https://marcellus.in/blog/
Note: The above material is neither investment research, nor financial advice. Marcellus does not seek payment for or business from this publication in any shape or form. The information provided is intended for educational purposes only. Marcellus Investment Managers is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and is also an FME (Non-Retail) with the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) as a provider of Portfolio Management Services. Additionally, Marcellus is also registered with US Securities and Exchange Commission (“US SEC”) as an Investment Advisor.
