Bangladesh proposes including cattle trade at the ‘border haats’

Dhaka has proposed introduction of cattle trade at the Bangladesh-India border haats (markets), a move that is likely to face opposition from India where some of the states have banned cow slaughter.

The neighbours are yet to formally discuss the sensitive matter as cow is sacred in Hindu-dominated India.

Commerce ministry’s Additional Secretary Manoj Kumar Roy told bdnews24.com on Sunday they would be discussing it informally with Indian officials.

The issue, raised by Border Guard Bangladesh at a meeting on renewal of the MoU on border haat, has been approved by the commerce ministry, the finance ministry’s Bank and Financial Institutions Division, the National Board of Revenue and the Bangladesh Bank.

Roy said they were yet to listen to the foreign ministry’s take on the matter.

An estimated two million cows are smuggled into Bangladesh from India annually.

Roy said, “We’ve discussed BGB’s proposal and businessmen from both sides have pushed for it.”

“But we’re not initiating formal discussion with India now as it is a sensitive issue for them,” he said. “We’ll move ahead once both sides have concurred.”

Several Indian states have banned slaughtering of cows and hardliners forced closure of abattoirs after Narendra Modi’s conservative BJP came to power last year.

Hindus do not consider buffalos to be sacred.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had ordered the BSF to completely stop cattle smuggling to “force Bangladeshis to give up eating beef”.

Until July, the BSF seized 90,000 cattle and caught 400 Indian and Bangladeshi smugglers, a Reuters report said.

The ban in India, world's largest beef exporter and fifth-biggest consumer, has pushed up meat prices in Bangladesh and put the leather industry in a crunch.

It has also brought down beef prices in India and is threatening the livelihood of thousands involved with the trade.

A Times of India report in April said plugging cattle smuggling would cost India Rs 310 billion, or roughly Tk 388 billion, annually.

Roy, visiting the ‘border haats’, said local businessmen have demanded including cattle in the list of products traded in the markets.

An article in the border haat MoU says, without specifying, that locally produced livestock can be traded at the markets.

Roy said the purchase limit for buyers will be increased from $200 (Tk 15,560) if cattle were traded.

Commerce ministry’s Senior Secretary Hedayet Ullah Al Mamun told bdnews24.com the matter was still in the primary stage of discussion.

“But nothing can be said for sure,” he said.