In the bordering village of Gongagach in Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat, the border forces open a gate for a few hours every year during the Ganga Puja. This gives relatives, separated by the border, a rare chance to reunite for a while. This year, it was on Tuesday.

This has deep sentimental value for poor people like Brojo Bala who do not have a passport or visa and who could otherwise never afford to visit India.

Widow Brojo Bala, 75, was seen waiting on the border, marked by barbed wire fence, all day long on that day. Her brother Profulla Chandra lives just across the border on the embankment of Maldah River. She was among more than a thousand people waiting for the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) to open the gate so that their relatives can join them. On the other side of the fence, they can see thousands of their relatives waiting for them.

But unlike the previous years, the BSF did not open the gate this time as a poll was going on in the state of West Bengal. "But India had opened its gate last year," said Subol Chandra Baramon, 65, of Gongagachh village.

"I saw my younger brother Profullo last time in 1971 during our Liberation War," said Brojo Bala, a resident of Balapra village in heavy heart. "I wanted to see my brother because I am old now. I don't know when I will die."

For the last 40 years, a puja celebration committee has been celebrating the puja by staging a fair on the embankment of Maldah river. The committee's general secretary Ranjit Chandra Royit notes, "Hindu devotees from different parts of the country join the Ganga fair to bath in Maldah River water to get purity of life, and devotees from Indian villages take part in the fair every year."

He said Ganga fair has also become a border-bond fair as the BSF temporarily opens gate for union of relatives.

Frustration for not being able to meet relatives were expressed by Basanti Bala, 62, widow of late Ramoni Kanta Barman at border village Gongagachh.

"We want fence-free border, we want to meet and share views with our relatives without any bar," she said.

Delowar Rahman, 65, from Lalmonirhat town said he brought some soaps and a Hilsa fish as gifts for his relatives in India.

"Last year, I met my relatives in this Ganga fair and they gave me Indian cloths as gifts," he said.

"We have no money for passport and visa. So, we wait for meeting them during the border fair," said Haradon Chandra Das, 60, of Chaparhat village in Kaliganj upazila. "We don't need this wall! We want a fence-free neighbour country," he added.

Chairman of local Gorol Union Maidul Islam said the BSF eventually opened the gate for a few minutes allowing a handful of Indian people to bath in the Maldah river. By that time most of their relatives had left and there was no reunion this year.