No Bangladeshi stall this year in biggest fair of north-eastern India

Ras Mela is an ancient and traditional fair annually held in Cooch Behar, a northern district of Indian state of West Bengal. This fair is the biggest fair in North East India. It can be said that it is the main festival of Cooch Behar district.

Those who come to Ras Mela eagerly look for Bangladeshi products. However, there will be no Bangladeshi stalls in this year's Ras Mela. There will be some saree stalls of traders from Kolkata in place of the Bangladeshi stalls.

Every year there are 40 to 50 stalls of Bangladeshi products in the fair. They showcase various Bangladeshi products including hilsa of Padma, and jamdani saree of Dhaka.

No Bangladeshi shopkeepers will be able to join the fair this year as India is not providing visa to Bangladeshis since the fall of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5 last.

Cooch Behar Municipality Chairman Rabindranath Ghosh told Views Bangladesh, "No traders from Bangladesh is coming to the fair this year. There will be other shops.”

Cooch Behar district Magistrate Arvind Kumar Meena, ex-officio president of Devattor Trust Board, will inaugurate this year's fair by spinning the Raschakra at 8 pm on November 15.

Several thousand traders attend the fair every year, trading crores of rupees. Every year, Bangladeshi stalls are a big attraction for buyers in this fair.

Milli Das, a school teacher in Cooch Behar, said, “I go to Ras Mela every year with my family. We buy various products from Bangladeshi stalls as the country is my mother’s birthland. Now they are not coming, it will be a little sad."

In this year’s fair, Forest Department will set up stalls to sell stalls where pure honey of Sundarbans and palm molasses can be found.

Forest Department official Bijankumar Nath said, “We have already applied to the municipality for a stall. Customers can buy pure honey and molasses from there.”

Meanwhile, it has been reported that various government stalls will also be set up in this year’s Ras Mela along with traders' stalls.