The first ever border haat was inaugurated on Saturday at the no man’s land between Kalaichar (India) and Baliamari (Bangladesh) for trading commodities of both countries in a bid to strengthen bonds between the peoples.
The Indian minister of commerce and industry, Anand Sharma, and the Bangladesh minister of commerce, Faruk Khan, jointly inaugurated the haat. The chief minister of Meghalaya of India, Mukul Sangma, was also present at the inauguration which took place at 11:30 am. The border haat is located on 75 metres in West Garo Hill district on the Indian side and on 75 metres in Kurigram district of the country.
The traditional market between Bangladesh and India resulted from an agreement that was signed about nine months ago. Top district officials of both countries, ministers, members of Parliaments and border guards and invited citizens from both sides witnessed the inaugural ceremony marked by hoisting of national flags of the two countries.
Lawmakers M Jafar Ali and M Zakir Hossain, FBCCI president AK Azad, Kurigram deputy commissioner Habibur Rahman, Police super Mahbubur Rahman attended the colourful function.
While Bangladeshi children sang the national anthem, the Indian Border Security Force band played the Indian national anthem.
About 600 people from the two sides were allowed on the site for the inauguration of the haat. The ceremony hosted by the Indian side featured colourful tribal dances, songs and beats of drums. The uninvited thousands of men, women and children on both sides, to whom the colour event was off limits, had a ringside view of it.
While BSF and BGB men shook hands and exchanged jokes, the 50 authorised vendors from both sides manned their stalls to sell produce and other merchandise.
Some sold ready-made clothes, fruits, fresh fish and vegetables and some sold paans and melamine ware to the cohorts of security men and VVIPs and government officials who were the buyers on the first ceremonial day of the market.
Locally produced vegetables, fruits, fruit juice, eggs, dry fishes, chickens, wooden furniture, soap, potato, processed foods, spices, bamboo, bamboo grass and broomstick, home textiles, garments and melamine products, small agricultural tools like plough, axe, spade and chisel etc will be traded in the border haat.
People living within the five-kilometre radius of the haat will be allowed to enter the market on production of identity cards. The haat hours are 10 am to 3 pm during winter and 10 am to 4 pm during summer. Beginning July 27, the market will open on Wednesdays.
Inaugurating the haat commerce minister Faruk Khan said that initially 47 items of both the countries would be sold and the number of products would be increased gradually.
He hoped that the haat would strengthen the bonds of friendship and increase the volume of trade between the two countries. The haat will provide a common marketplace for people along the borders, boost local business and trade, Khan pointed out.
Echoing his sentiment, his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma said the friendly ties between the two countries would strengthened further to the benefits of people living in border areas.
Bangladesh and India have agreed to set up a number of border haats, which, if opened, are expected to witness bilateral trade worth US $20 million a year.
“The order haats will go a long way in forging friendship between the peoples on both sides of the international border,” said Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma.
Sangma said he had grown up in the region and as a child he witnessed how people of these two countries traded with one another without fear.
The Meghalaya chief minister spoke of great potential of trade between the two countries in this region and said: “I am grateful to the leaderships of both the countries for restarting the haat,” he said.
“The port of Chittagong is only a seven-hour drive from the border of Meghalaya and in future people of this region could have access to the port for international trade,” he added.
Khan termed the occasion a historic moment and said: “This haat is a symbol of our friendship it will not only generate economic growth of the two countries but also strengthen our friendship.”
“We have sea ports and I believe people (who need access to sea ports) will be able to use our ports for the economic development of the region,” Khan added.
Sharma said trading along the borders had been a part of the tradition and heritage of the nations. This is indeed an auspicious occasion, he added.
“Access to Chittagong port will unleash the huge potential of the people of this region,” Sharma further said adding, “With our huge population we have to remember that our countries will have to sustain high growth potentials.”
Another border haat will be opened at Lauwaghar-Balat (East Khasia Hills of Meghalaya) along the Sunamganj border. A number of similar haats will be set up gradually if trading in the existing ones is up to the expectation. The order haats could be traced back to the barter trade that was practised in Sylhet and adjoining Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills in the ancient days.
The informal trade link among people continued even after the partition of India in 1947. People from Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills continued to cross over to the then East Pakistan with merchandise like fruits and spices besides honey, iron, bee’s wax, ivory, rubber, betel nuts, betel leaves, spices and potatoes. The villagers from Sylhet offered rice, sugar, fish, salt, tobacco, oil, cotton clothes and spices from the plains.
The trade link was snapped during the 1971 Liberation War that led to the birth of Bangladesh.
The state government of Meghalaya and the local tribal organisations have since been seeking re-opening of the haats and urging the central government of India to take up the issue with the Bangladesh government.
India did it when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited New Delhi in January last year. The Prime Ministers of both countries agreed that the border haats would be established “on a pilot basis” in some select places along the India-Bangladesh border, including in Sylhet-Meghalaya region.
Bangladesh and India are also working on several projects to improve trade infrastructure and connectivity.
-With The Independent input
