Agartala:The first border ‘haat’, or market, along the Tripura-Bangladesh frontier will be inaugurated at Srinagar in south district of the state on January 13.
“The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the chairpersons of the border haat management commit-tees of south Tripura district and Feni district of neigh-bouring Bangladesh in the Chhagalnaiya sub-division of Feni district,” Shyamal Dev, senior manager of Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) Shyamal Dev, said here on Sunday.
TIDC is the nodal agency of bilateral trade through border haat and the Additional District Magistrates (ADM) of the districts concerned are the chairpersons of the border management committees.
He said the border haat area at Srinagar and the roads on Indian side were constructed by India at a cost of Rs 2.4 crore and commerce ministers of both India and Bangladesh have been invited to be present on the inauguration day. Business in the ‘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 be accepted. Initially, 16 items were shortlisted 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.
Another such market is coming up at Kamalasagar in Sipahijala district, he said. Altogether four border haats would be constructed in Tripura, two others at Kamalpur in Dhalai district and one at 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, 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. (PTI)
