The government has turned down a proposal to set up four border haats along Rangamati and Mizoram, officials said, Thursday. The proposal was made by India.
"The small number of inhabitants in Rangamati and Mizoram does not justify creation of border haats. Moreover, the areas are almost inaccessible. For this, permission for setting up two border haats was not given," and official of commerce ministry told the FE.
At this moment, there is no suitable place for such haats in the proposed area, he further said.
Earlier, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) conducted a study on Rangamati and Mizoram for verifying possibility of setting up the haats after getting proposal from India, a MoC note said.
Indian side in the last Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting requested Bangladesh to explore convenient place in the area to establish the two haats, he added.
The BGB again conducted a ground work in this regard upon Indian request. The Bangladesh border security force did not find any proper place to establish such haats in Rangamati and Mizoram borders, he added.
Both India and Bangladesh have recently agreed to improve the Indo-Bangladesh border haats (small markets) as special economic centres aimed at expanding cross-border trades, sources said.
Both the countries took the decision at a meeting in Shillong in India last week, they said.
The Meghalaya government proposed to Bangladesh to set up 22 new border haats across the 443-kilometre-long Bangladesh-Meghalaya border. The BGB gave no objection certificate to set up five border haats out of the proposed 22. An inter-ministerial meeting will be held in this connection soon, sources said.
The trade across the border of local produces such as jackfruit, mango and spices by the people living in the hills and on the plains is taking place. The opening of 'haats' has reduced the informal trade and helped ensure food security of people in the border areas, besides strengthening the economic cooperation, sources said.
The first border haats were inaugurated on the borders stretching from Kalaichar in West Garo Hills district of northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya to Baliamari of Kurigram district in Bangladesh on July 23, 2011.
Currently, Bangladesh and Meghalaya have two border haats - one at Kalaichar and Baliamari and another in Balat (in East Khasi Hills district) and Lauwaghar (Dalora) in Sunamganj district.
According to the agreement of border haats, the commodities that can be traded are locally produced vegetables, food items, fruits, spices, bamboo-made products and broom sticks, excluding timber products of local cottage industries like "gamcha," "lungi"; "dao" (machete), plough, axe, spade and chisel, garments, melamine products, processed food items and fruit juice.
Bangladesh has 4,096-km border with India's five states, Tripura, paschimbanga, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
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