India-Bangladesh meet on border `haats` put off due to `Mahasen`

Agartala: A high-level India-Bangladesh meeting on setting up of `Border Haats` (border markets) along the frontier in Tripura has been postponed due to cyclonic storm `Mahasen`, a state minister said here Thursday. "The high-level meeting between officials of Bangladesh, India and Tripura governments was scheduled to be held Thursday at Sabroom in southern Tripura. The Bangladesh government postponed the meeting in view of storm `Mahasen`," Tripura Industries and Commerce Minister Jitendra Chowdhury told reporters here.

Under the impact of cyclonic storm `Mahasen`, rains coupled with winds affected the normal life in various northeastern states since Wednesday evening. Quoting a Bangladesh government communique, he said : "The Bangladesh government has directed its all officials not to leave their station (place of posting) to effectively deal with the hurricane." To increase trade, Bangladesh and India have agreed to set up a number of `Border Haats` along the frontier, which, when opened, are expected to witness bilateral trade worth Rs.108 crore ($20 million) every year. India and Bangladesh set up the first such `Border Haat` at Kalaichar in Meghalaya`s West Garo Hills district in 2011. Dhaka and New Delhi are keen to set up eight more border markets along the 1,880-km-long India-Bangladesh border stretching across the four northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam. IANS