The operations of border haats between Bangladesh and India, dominated by industrial products from the latter, have remained suspended since August after a mass uprising toppled the Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
Not only the operations of seven border haats on both sides of the borders, inaugurated since 2011, but also building of physical infrastructure of three has also remained suspended, said commerce ministry officials.
The border haats were envisaged by the governments of India and Bangladesh as an instrument primarily to generate livelihood for people living at the border areas of the two countries.
Each border haat is managed and organised by haat management committee of the respective border haat.
Trade at the border haats is permitted to be carried out either on a barter basis or in currency of the country with which the haats share a border.
Besides the aforementioned haats, the previous AL regime had also reached a consensus with the Indian government to make groundwork for six more in future despite criticisms at home that the border haats encouraged black marketers on both sides of the border.
Sunamganj District deputy commissioner Mohammad Ileas Mia told 抖阴精品 on Sunday that the concerned authority in Meghalaya suspended the operation of haat in Balat without informing them after the change in regime in Bangladesh in August.
Subsequently, the operation of haat at Lauwarghar in Sunamganj was stopped, he said, adding that they had not received any plea from anybody from the local side to resume the operation of the haat.
Officials said that the Sunamganj DC Office had received some e-mails from the other side of the border to resume the operation.
However, those mails were not generated from official channel, they said.
The border haat at Lauwarghar in Sunamganj on the Bangladesh side and at Balat in Meghalaya on the Indian side was the second among those opened between 2010 and 2015.
The other haats are Kurigram (Rangpur)- Kalaichar (Meghalaya), Purba Modhunagar (Feni)- Srinagar (Tripura) and Tarapur (Brahmanbaria)-Kamalasagar (West Tripura).
The World Bank in a report released on September 24, 2018 in its blog said that the total trade at each haat as estimated by the state governments was $6,00,000 a year.
Even if the purchase limit at the haats were doubled, the number of days of operation increased to two days a week and many more haats, say 50, were established along the border, these markets could generate total trade of $120 million a year, said the WB report.
Three more haats were established at both sides in 2021 despite criticisms in Bangladesh mentioning that industrial products from mainland India such as chocolates, cosmetics, baby food and sharis were available in those haats that undermined memorandum of understanding, said the officials.
The operations of the border haats also remained suspended for almost two years due to Covid pandemic.
The operation resumed on May 2022 because of demand placed by stakeholders from both sides.
With the ongoing suspension since August 2024 the border haat management committees are yet to receive any official plea from stakeholders to resume the operation, said Feni District deputy commissioner Saiful Islam.
