AGARTALA, May 19 (TIWN): Tripura’s second “border haat” the fourth such kind along the India-Bangladesh frontier is all set to be opened up very shortly with a crucial meeting was held on Monday taking up the issue of the progress of construction work, said Nagaraju Maddirala, secretary to state Industry and Commerce. Talking to TIWN on Monday Maddirala said that all the necessary arrangements has been taken up with the construction of the border haat has been completed and it would be inaugurated very soon. He said that the state govt. has already sent an invitation to the Union Minister of Industry and Commerce to visit the state and inaugurate the second border haat here at Kamalasagar, under Sepahijala District of Tripura bordering Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh. He also said that date for the inauguration of the border haat has not yet finalized.

Besides, according to the official sources lists of vendors and vendees have already been received by both sides and a process will set on motion to prepare identity cards for them.

As per the decision, the number o f vendors and vendees would be 50 (25+25) who will be able to do business at the border haat. Besides, around 1000 customers are expected to visit the border haat to buy different items.

Srinagar boder haat in South district’sPoangbari RD block, which was inaugurated by Union Minister for Commerce Nirmala Sitaraman, has already made a mark in the bilateral trade by swelling trade volumes. Two more border haats- Raghna in North district and Dhalaighat in Kamapur subdivision are in the pipelined to boost the bilateral trade with neighboring Bangladesh.

A significant aspect of the growing India-Bangladesh ties has been the setting up of border haats (markets) along the international border in North East. The haats had been thriving centres of trade and commerce across the borders till the partition of the sub-continent in 1947.

After consultation with the Bangladesh government and respective state governments, the Centre has identified 70 locations in five border States to set up haats in a phased manner. Out of the 70 haats, 35 have been proposed along the border with Paschim Banga, 22 in Meghalaya border, five in Tripura and four each in Assam and Mizoram.

Border trade plays a key role in the economy of Tripura which shares 865 km border with Bangladesh. The Tripura government had proposed to set up eight haats along the state’s border with Bangladesh but the governments of both the countries agreed to operate only five.

On January 13, 2015, Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Bangladesh’s Commerce Minister Tofael Ahmed jointly opened the border haat at Srinagar in South Tripura district Purba Madhugram in northeastern Feni district of Bangladesh. This was Tripura’s first and third such market along the Indo-Bangladesh border.