By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The tribal chiefs in Meghalaya on Wednesday urged the State Government to approach the Centre to convince the Bangladesh government for early opening of at least 38 border haats for the benefit of the people residing in the border areas of the state.
“We have urged the state government to take up the matter with the Centre to speed up the opening of these haats on the southern side of the State,” Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya (GCCM) chairman John F Kharshiing said here.
Maintaining that these haats impacts the livelihood of the border residents, Kharshiing said only two border haats – one at Kalaichar in West Garo Hills and another at Balat in East Khasi Hills – were operative till date.
“More than 20,000 residents are benefited from these two haats,” he said.
Out of 38 proposed border haats, 17 are in East Khasi Hills district, 11 in South West Khasi Hills, four in South Garo Hills, three each in West Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills districts.
According to Kharshiing, the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo people inhabiting the entire stretch of 443km long Indo-Bangladesh border have been victims of partition where not only was the international border closed but also they have been denied their traditional market and route towards Sylhet and Chittagong. Urging the government to improve the infrastructure, particularly bridges, along the border, the tribal chief said these infrastructure development works would enable movement along the border as hostile terrain was a serious challenge. It may be mentioned that State government had officially pressed for opening of six more border haats and earlier, the Union Commerce Ministry had stated that Bangladesh and India have agreed to set up a number of border haats, which, if opened, are expected to witness bilateral trade worth US $20 million every year.