Tripura to set up two new border haats

Two new border haats along the India-Bangladesh border will be established in Tripura, Biplab Kumar Deb, chief minister of the Indian state, said yesterday. 

Speaking at an event in Agartala, he said the border haats will come up at Ragna village in North Tripura district’s Dharmanagar and Dhalai district’s Kamalpur.

At present, two such border markets are operational at Kamalasagar in Sepahijala district and Srinagar in South Tripura district.

Deb said border haats play a major role in strengthening the relationship between people of the two countries.

“The India-Bangladesh relations are cordial and we want to forge cooperation between the two nations for the development of both,” he said.

Deb said not only Sonowal but also Bangladesh’s Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi and Prime Minister’s Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman pitched for Tripura’s development.

The Indian minister said he has requested the Bangladesh authorities to enlist Tripura as one of their export routes.

Deb said almost 90 percent of the businessmen from Bangladesh, who participated in the stakeholders’ meeting in Guwahati, expressed their keenness to set up industries in the proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Sabroom, a town in Tripura near the international border.

The distance between Sabroom and Chattogram port is 70 km.

On the day, water resources management and port connectivity stakeholders of the two countries take part in a two-day meeting.

India and Bangladesh share a total of 54 rivers and historically, the two countries have shared riverine routes for trade, commerce and movement of people, speakers said at a session over ‘Port Use Agreements’ held on the concluding day of the India Bangladesh Stakeholders’ Meet in New Delhi.

The session was jointly coordinated by Bangladesh’s Shipping Secretary Md Abdus Samad and Chairperson of the Inland Waterways Authority of India Amita Prasad.

In recent times, India and its neighbours have realised the immense potential of rivers as trade-transport-connectivity routes, both within and across borders.

Coordinators of both the countries pointed out the developments in terms of maritime, coastal and inland waterways connecting the region and said some of these relate to neighbouring Nepal and Bhutan as well.

Prasad said the Indian government has been putting increasing emphasis on better management and governance of water resources for trade, transport, tourism, domestic and industrial purposes.

Notwithstanding this thrust to re-connect the region comprising of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal through the waterways, the pace of progress has been slow, he added.

A change in modal share of trade and transport cannot be expected to happen overnight but it is also important to understand and deliberate upon some challenges and hurdles to realise the ambitious idea, Prasad added.

Supported by India’s Commerce and Industry Ministry, the India Bangladesh Stakeholders’ Meet was being organised by the Assam government’s Department of Act East Policy Affairs.