Meghalaya govt suspends 'Border Haats' along Indo-Bangla frontier amid B'desh unrest

Shillong/Agartala, Aug 12 (IANS) In view of the unrest in Bangladesh, the Meghalaya government on Monday suspended the operations of 'Border Haats' (markets) along the India-Bangladesh border, an official said.   

An official of the Meghalaya government told IANS that in pursuance to an order issued by the Commissioner and Secretary to the state's Commerce and Industries Department, the Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills district in an order has informed that all 'Border Haats' in East Khasi Hills District are suspended for operations with immediate effect and until further orders.

The five 'Border Haats', two in Tripura and three in 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.

However, three 'Border Haats' in East Khasi Hills district and South West Garo Hills district in Meghalaya reopened in 2022 and one of the two 'Border Haats' in Tripura -- Purba Madhugram (Bangladesh)-Srinagar (south Tripura) reopened in May last year and are functional once a week now.

A top official of the Tripura Industries and Commerce Department on Monday said that the south Tripura 'Border Haats', which functions on each Tuesday, was not set up on August 6 following Bangladesh authorities’ request, but it may operate on Tuesday (August 13).

"Before the unrest in Bangladesh, the officials of the two countries, after visiting the bordering areas, had decided to reopen Tripura’s second Border Haat -- Kasba (Bangladesh)-Kamlasagar (Tripura) in Sepahijala district from this month, but because of crisis in the neighbouring country it became uncertain," the official old IANS.

In the weekly market, on an average, at least 25 vendors, including women from both sides of the border, sell their products.

The first Border Haat was inaugurated in 2011 between the West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya at Kalaichar and Kurigram in Bangladesh.

According to the officials, 10 more 'Border Haats' were approved along the India-Bangladesh border at Tripura and Meghalaya.

Out of them, six are in Meghalaya, and four in Tripura.

Both the Indian and Bangladeshi governments are keen to reopen more 'Border Haats' in the four northeastern states -- Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and Mizoram, which share a 1,880-km border with Bangladesh.

Jaipur-based think-tank CUTS International, which has done several studies on border trade, had earlier recommended to the Indian government to open more 'Border Haats' along the border of the two countries, as these markets boost the local economy, cement ties between the people of the two countries and also check illegal trade.

'Border Haat' may be small in terms of the volume of trade, but they contribute immensely to bonding of people on both sides of the border, knowledge sharing and deepening people-to-people connectivity, which is an essential building block in cementing ties between the two neighbouring countries, CUTS' studies said.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at [email protected])