Chhagalnaiya border haat in Feni to reopen after three years

The Chhagalnaiya-Srinagar border haat in Feni district is all set to reopen on 9 May after remaining closed for three years.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Bangladesh-India management committee on Wednesday evening, reports UNB.

Additional district magistrate of Feni Abhishek Das, Chhagalnaiya upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Moumita Das, officer-in-charge of Chhagalnaiya police station Sudip Roy and additional district magistrate of South Tripura of India Asim Saha were present at the meeting.

The border haat was launched in 2015 along the Madhuram border of Chhagalnaiya in Feni and Srinagar in India. More than 50 traders from Bangladesh and India used to sell domestic products in the haat every Tuesday.

The haat was closed on 3 March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Later, the management committee shut it down for an indefinite period.

Ataur Rahman, general secretary of the haat’s traders association, said the opening of the border haat will gear up the trade and commerce between the two countries and strengthen relations.

“However, there are many complaints, including restricting the entry of Indian buyers, limiting the sale of domestic goods in India, and non-cooperation from the Indian administration. I have asked the management committee to resolve the issues,” he said.

In the meeting, the representatives of both countries decided to continue strict monitoring of the market to ensure security, prevent smuggling and stop harassment of buyers and sellers.

Mohammad Shahajan, a trader at the border haat, said Indian cosmetics are sold in the haat outside the specified products. Also, fish, shoots, bakeries and plastic products are sold in the Bangladeshi haat.

Feni additional district magistrate Abhishek Das said, “The border haat will sit every Tuesday from 10 am to 4 pm as it was before. The entry tickets of 1,000 buyers will be sold on the day before the haat is set up.”

“There will be 27 designated vendors from each country and 54 designated vendors will sell their products,” he added.