Tripura MP Biplab Deb wants govt to discuss border haats with B’desh

Agartala: Former Tripura Chief Minister and incumbent Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday drew the attention of the Central government towards the closure of two border haats located in Srinagar (South Tripura) and Kamalasagar (Sepahijala district) of Tripura. 

Speaking at the winter session of the Rajya Sabha, Deb said, “Through this House, I would like to draw the attention of the Central government towards the border haats that had been closed during the Covid-19 period. The weekly marts at a specific border point are a source of livelihood for many vendors in the bordering areas of both Bangladesh and India. The vendors selected through a specific process trade in locally available goods.”

But, he said, as the pandemic struck the country, the border points were closed down as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of Covid-19. 

“Even as the border haat of Meghalaya is reopened after the COVID situation returned to normalcy, these two border haats in Tripura have been shut for over two years now. The Industries and Commerce department of Tripura has already written letters to the concerned ministry seeking resumption of the border marts and talks are also underway with the Bangladesh counterparts,” Deb said, urging for speedy redressal of the problem. 

Apart from that, Deb also urged the Central government to expedite the construction of the two proposed border haats at Kamalpur-Kurmaghat and Ragna in North Tripura district. 

According to Deb, there are joint border haat management committees headed by the Additional District Magistrates on the Indian side and an equivalent officer at the district level on the Bangladesh side. Although repeated requests have been made from the Indian side to put the border trade points in operation, no green signal has been received from the Bangladesh side so far, he added. 

According to Tripura government official sources, the state is in contention for establishing border haats at Ragna (Dharmanagar, North Tripura), Hiracherra (Kailashahar, Unakoti District), Kamalpur (Dhalai district), Bamutia (West Tripura) Ekinpur, Boxnagar (Sepahijala), Hrishyamukh (South Tripura) and Raishyabari (Dhalai District) for their popularity among local population. 

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