India pursuing Bangladesh to reopen ‘Border Haats’ in Tripura

AGARTALA: The Indian government has raised the issue of reopening the two 'Border Haats' (markets) in Tripura to promote local business and the livelihood of the people living on either side of the frontiers with its Bangladesh counterpart.

The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel, said in a letter to former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb that the functioning of the border haats at Kamlasagar in Sepahijala district and Srinagar in South Tripura district had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are continuously raising the matter of the reopening of the border haats at Kamlasagar and Srinagar in the bilateral meetings with Bangladesh. We are hopeful of an early resolution of this matter," Patel said in her letter to Deb, currently a BJP Rajya Sabha member. Deb, who resigned from the Chief Minister's post in May last year, had urged the Centre during a Special Mention in the Rajya Sabha in December 2022 to reopen the border haats along Tripura's border with Bangladesh.

The four Border Haats, two each in Tripura and Meghalaya, have remained closed since March 2020 after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdowns, causing immense loss to the people living in the bordering villages. The two Border Haats in Meghalaya -- at Balat (East Khasi Hills district) and Kalaichar (South West Garo Hills district) -- were reopened last year, and both are functional once a week now.

Officials of the Tripura Industries and Commerce Department said that the officials in Sepahijala and South Tripura district administrations had on a number of occasions approached their Bangladesh counterparts to reopen the Border Haats as the COVID-19-induced situation has almost been tamed now. "Bangladesh officials said that the concerned ministries in Dhaka are yet to allow the reopening of the markets," an official of the department said. Jaipur-based think tank CUTS International, which has done several studies on border trade, has also recommended to the Indian government to resume these border markets while maintaining necessary precautions against COVID-19, as these markets boost the economy, cement ties between the people of the two countries, and also check illegal trade. (IANS)