The government of Tripura is waiting for a go-ahead from Bangladesh to reopen two “border haats” in the northern Indian state, which have been shut since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020.
Even though the federal government of India has already approved reopening the haats, a positive response from the end of Bangladesh authorities is still awaited.
Swapna Debnath, director of Tripura Industries and Commerce Department, said: “We’ve already received all necessary clearances from the government of India in this regard.
“The orders have been forwarded to the additional district magistrates of the districts accommodating the border haats. The district administrations have conveyed the development to their Bangladesh counterpart, but are yet to receive any response”, she said.
“We want the border haats to start functioning as soon as possible. From our end, all necessary approvals are granted and we are ready”, said the Tripura official said.
The two border haats are situated in Srinagar-Chhagalnaiya in South District and Kamalasagar-Tarapur in Sepahijala district of Tripura.
Sepahijala Additional District Magistrate Subhasis Bandopadhay, under whose jurisdiction the Kamalasagar border haat falls, said they sent several emails to the authorities in Bangladesh.
“But the district administration of Brahmanbaria has informed us that they have taken no such decision to reopen the border haats yet,” he said.
“Once the Bangladesh authorities show a greenlight to our proposal of reopening, a joint official visit will be organized and subsequently, the border haat will be opened again”, he concluded.
Apart from the existing two border haats, Tripura is also planning to open two more such trade points in the Dharmanagar sub-division of Tripura’s North district and Kamalpur in the Dhalai district.
Officials have informed that the foundation stone for the Kamalpur border haat is already laid. There are altogether 49 vendors in the border haat. The Srinagar Haat is also closed since the same time and the number of vendors is also almost similar.
Currently, India and Bangladesh have established seven border haats while nine new such frontier markets are in the pipeline.
Border haats between the two countries are ready markets that have been established to enable local residents on both sides of the border to market and consume their ‘local products’.
Border haats are unique modes of duty-free trading space between the two countries where locally grown products are sold to people living within a radius of 5 Km of the haat on specific days of the week. These haats were conceptualized to promote the wellbeing of people from remote areas across borders of these two countries by establishing a traditional market of local products among them.
Border haats are vibrant centers promoting people to people connectivity, where local community from Bangladesh and India gets an opportunity to sell locally produced agricultural and horticultural products, small agriculture and household goods, minor forest products, fresh and dry fish, cottage industry items, wooden furniture, handloom and handicraft items.
