Cabinet okays renewal for border haats

The cabinet yesterday approved a draft for renewing and re-signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) and mode of operation (MoO) between Bangladesh and India for setting up border haats and their operations extending the tenure of the haats to five years from three years.

The revised draft proposed for allowing 50 traders from each side to transact their products in a border haat which is now 25, Cabinet Secretary M Shafiul Alam told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The cabinet also gave a nod to increasing the purchase limit of the customers to US$ 200 from the existing $100.

The cabinet also approved in principle the drafts of the “Bangladesh Rice Research Institute Act-2016”, the “Seeds Act-2016”, and the “Bangladesh Film and Television Institute (Amendment) Act-2016”.

It also endorsed the draft of the president's speech to be delivered at the first session of the Jatiya Sangsad in 2017.

The cabinet adopted separate condolence motions at the deaths of noted Indian politician and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha and Prime Minister's Special Assistant Mahbubul Hoque Shakil.

The cabinet recalled Shakil's contributions to the country's student politics as the organising secretary and senior vice president of Bangladesh Chhatra League and subsequently as the assistant secretary in the sub-committee of the Awami League Central Working Committee. His involvement with media and his popular literary works including two poetry books “Mon kharaper gari” and “Khero khatar pata theke” were also mentioned.

Shakil was an efficient organiser, cultural personality and popular writer, the cabinet said.