Agartala, April 8: To promote local business and livelihood of the people living in border areas of Tripura and Bangladesh, the Indian government has raised the issue of reopening the two ‘Border Haats’ (markets) in Tripura.

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel, said in a letter to former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb that the functioning of the Border Haats at Kamlasagar in Sepahijala district and Srinagar in South Tripura district were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are continuously raising the matter of reopening of Border Haats at Kamlasagar and Srinagar in the bilateral meetings with Bangladesh. We are hopeful of an early resolution of this matter,” Patel said in her letter to Deb, currently a BJP Rajya Sabha member.

The four Border Haats, two each in Tripura and Meghalaya, have remained closed since March 2020 after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdowns, causing immense loss to the people living in the bordering villages.