First Border haat in Tripura to come up by October end

AGARTALA: The first border 'haat' (market) of Tripura, set up at Indo-Bangla boundary at Srinagar in South district, about 110 km from here would be inaugurated in the third week of October to boost bilateral trade, Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) officials said.

"This decision was taken in the meeting of the Chairpersons of the Border haat management committees of South Tripura district and Feni district of neighbouring Bangladesh held in the Chhagalnaiya sub-division of Feni district on Thursday last," Senior Manager of Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC), Shyamal Dev said.

TIDC is the nodal agency of bilateral trade through border haat and the Additional District Magistrates (ADM) of the concerned districts are the chairpersons of the border management committees.

Dev, who was also present in the meeting said, the ADM of South Tripura district, R K Noatia, ADM of Feni district, Muhammad Mahububul Haque, Director of TIDC, Prabin Agarwal and Deputy High Commissioner of Indian embassy in Dhaka, Somnath Halder were present in the Thursday's meeting.

He said, the border haat in Srinagar and the roads on Indian side were constructed by India at a cost of Rs 2.4 crore and added commerce Ministers of India and Bangladesh were invited to remain present on the day of inauguration.

"The exact date of inauguration would be announced after getting consent of the commerce ministers of the two countries," he added.

Business in the market (haat) would take place once a week among the people living within 5 km radius of the border who would sell and buy locally produced goods and crops.

No local taxes would be imposed on the items to be sold in the haats and currencies of both the countries would prevail.

Initially 16 items were short listed which include agricultural and horticultural crops, spices, minor forest products excluding timber, fish and dry fish, dairy and poultry products, cottage industry items, wooden furniture, handloom and handicraft items etc.

After setting up a border 'haat' (market) near the Indo-Bangla international border at Srinagar in South Tripura district, another such market is coming up at Kamalasagar in Sipahijala district, Dev told PTI.

Altogether four border haats would be constructed in Tripura, Dev said adding, the two others are at Kamalpur in Dhalai district and Dharmanagar in North Tripura district.

These markets are set up at the zero line of the international border with one part on the Indian side and the other in Bangladesh.

The cost of construction of the Kamalasagar haat, 28 km from here, on 150 X150 sq meters spread over two sides of the border would be Rs 2.44 crore which would be borne by the Indian Ministry of Commerce.

The first border haat was set up in 2012 at Kalaichar in West Garo hills of Meghalaya.