Nagaland-Assam traders join hands to ensure economic blockades don’t affect business

Our Reporter
Dimapur, April 21 (EMN): The Nagaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CNCCI) and Assam Chamber of Commerce (ACC) have taken a joint resolution to set up a border management committee to ensure that economic blockades in the border area do not hamper business environment of the two states in future.

Briefing journalists at Hotel Saramati in Dimapur on Wednesday, on the second day of the 3rd Executive Council Meet, ACC Secretary General Sisir Dev Kalita said that there has always been ‘border tension’ between the two neighbouring states, which is a “government thing”.

“But in some way or other, business is affected because of the border issue,” he said.

He stated that they have set up a co-ordination committee with the adjacent districts including Jorhat, Karbi Anglong and Golaghat Union, who will look after the economic activities so that ‘it does not get distracted’ because of the border issue.

Chairman of CNCCI, Khekugha Muru also stated that border dispute and trade and commerce were different issues and therefore “we want to appeal to all the state governments as well as the community leaders, that the border issue should not hamper the activities of the two states”.

He further stated that they had passed a resolution to bring all the eight Northeast chambers of commerce together as one.

“The north-eastern states have similar issues and problems and therefore it is important to form a committee where we can raise the issues and resolve at the common platform,” he stated.

He said that sometimes the policy made by the Central government does not suit the ground reality of the eight states and their needs, “so we felt that this platform is very important”.

It was informed that the chairman of CNCCI and the secretary general of ACC would be taking the initiative on the co-ordination committee of the NE states.

Muru also informed that the two states had taken the decision and resolved to mutually benefit and help each other.

“80% from Nagaland are from agricultural background, and most of the time our produce does not get the deserved market price or they do not get the deserved market to sell their products, so the ACC has consented that they will form a district-level mandi committee which will directly procure and source our agriculture produce from our farmers,” he stated.

He explained that they would be identifying the famers from villages and set up a committee in every district; this committee would be directly linked to various mandi committees so that farmers ‘sell it directly to the mandis and the mandi operators directly buy it from farmers’.

“The ACC has also agreed that once they buy the resource from us, they will try to market it beyond their jurisdiction of Assam,” he informed.

He further mentioned that Assam and Nagaland had different weather and climatic conditions, “therefore what is in season in our state, there may be scarcity in Assam, so basically what we produce, Assam can consume and the same with the Assam produce goods”.

“So in a mutual way we are planning to help the farmers committee in a bigger way,” he concluded.