Elections in Tripura have hit the India-Bangladesh border trade as several trading points were shut by authorities for security reasons, officials said on Thursday.
At the direction of the Election Commission, district officials have asked the Border Security Force and customs authorities to close the trade on Thursday and Friday, a customs official said.
The official said: “Many trucks were stranded on either side of the Akhaurah checkpost and other customs stations along the Bangladesh border with Tripura.”
Habul Biswas, general secretary of the Agartala Exporters-Importers Association (AEIA), told reporters: “Traders of both Bangladesh and India will sustain huge losses.”
Biswas said the closure of the border trade would enable hundreds of Indian workers to vote Thursday.
Situated adjacent to the heart of Agartala, the Akhaurah check post is the most important international trading land port in northeast India after the Petrapol-Banepole check post in West Bengal, with an average of 200 Bangladeshi trucks loaded with goods coming to Tripura every day.
According to Biswas, on an average, business worth Rs.15 million takes place daily through the Akhaurah land customs station.
Border trade between India and Bangladesh has been taking place through Akhaurah and five other land customs stations in Tripura, which shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, voters queued up in large numbers outside polling booths from early morning as the single-phased assembly elections proceeded peacefully and briskly.
“Polling began at 7 a.m. with men and women queuing up in large numbers to cast their votes in 60 assembly constituencies,” said Ashutosh Jindal, chief electoral officer.
Of the total population of 37 lakh, about 23.5 lakh are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 249 candidates, including 15 women and many independents. About 18,000 poll officials have been deployed to conduct the elections.
Of the 3,041 polling stations, 32 have been categorised as very vulnerable and 112 as vulnerable in view of militancy and other security related problems.
The Election Commission has appointed over 2,000 micro observers to assist 48 general, expenditure and police observers to oversee electioneering.
Thursday’s vote will decide the fate of the chief minister, his 11 cabinet colleagues, former chief minister and veteran Congress leader Samir Ranjan Burman his son and state Congress chief Sudip Roy Barman, opposition leader (Congress) Ratan Lal Nath, Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) president and former militant leader Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl and a host of others.
The Left Front, which has been in power since 1978 barring one term (1988-1993), has been facing a challenge on numerous issues, including higher salaries to the state government employees and rising unemployment.
Source: India Today
