AGARTALA, May 24 (TIWN): The progress work of the border haat of Tripura – Kamalasagar- Tarapur is going on full swing. The expected time to complete the work is most likely to be scheduled on the month of July. Talking to TIWN, District Magistrate of Sepahijala District, Prashant Kumar Goyel told that ,”on May 27th the international level meet between the Additional District magistrate along with the team from Bangladesh with the Sub-Divisional magistrates of various districts of Tripura will be held to overview the whole situation and progress of the Haat.

Though the work was scheduled to be completed within October, but due to the negligence of the Sepahijala District administration, it is not possible to end the work within stipulated time. Goyal mentioned that during the visit of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi Jan 10­13, 2010, India and Bangladesh decided to set up the 'Border Haats' to boost local trade and for people­to­people contact.

 However it worthy to be mentioned here that the first border ‘haat’ or market along the Tripura Bangladesh frontier at Srinagar in South Tripura district, about 140 km from here, was inaugurated on January 13. Union Commerce Minister NirmalaSitharaman and her Bangladeshi counterpart Tofile Ahmed had jointly inaugurated the first border haat along the Tripura Bangladesh border. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and MP Jiten Chowdhury were also present on the occasion.

There is a huge scope of increasing trade between Bangladesh and northeastern states of India." Two 'Border Haats' had already been set up in 2012 at Meghalaya's Kalaichar (India) ­Baliamari (Bangladesh) and Dalora (Bangladesh) ­Balat (India). Four northeastern states ­ Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam ­ share a 1,880­km border with Bangladesh, parts of which are unfenced and run through dense forests, making it porous and vulnerable.

 "If the existing border infrastructure is upgraded, the volume of trade and business between Bangladesh and northeastern states of India would be increased five to six times of the current level," the official said. Business in the ‘haat’ would take place once a week among 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 sold in the haats and currencies of both the countries would be accepted.