After the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, it is now the turn of the annual Indo-Tibet barter trade to come under the spell of Beijing Olympics.
The trade, which was to begin in June this year, could not take place due to the Olympics with authorities now hoping that it may start now on August 19.
“As Olympics are still continuing, we are now hopeful that the trade may start on August 19,” said, B S Gosain, district magistrate, Pithoragarh.
In the latest incident, a group of businessmen and porters were turned back from Taklakot early this month by the Chinese authorities citing internal security problems.
As the trade has already been delayed, the traders are not much enthused. Till now, only 50 trade passes have been issued to traders, who trek miles from Pithoragarh crossing inhospitable terrains to reach Taklakot, the trade mart in Tibet, where the two sides indulge in barter trade.
The volume of the barter trade has been hovering at Rs 1 to 2 crore during the past two to three years. Indian Traders are peeved at the centre for imposing a ban on the import of some trade items like Chinese raw silk and livestock, which are in great demand in India.
The tribal Bhotia traders have been demanding the revocation of ban. “We have forwarded the demands of traders to the Central government as well as the state government,” said a representative of the traders.
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The demand for the Chinese silk has been growing in India but the centre thinks that its import would affect the local trade. The import of livestock has been banned since no quarantine facility is available at Gunji, the Indian mart at Pithoragarh.
Through the barter trade with their Chinese and Tibetan counterparts, Indian traders exchange goods like jaggery, wool, spices and blankets among other things.
The Indo-Tibet barter trade, which resumed in 1992 after a gap of 30 years following the 1962 war, reached Rs 14-crore mark in 2004. But after the ban on certain items like livestock and Chinese silk, the volume of trade is gradually falling touching as low as Rs 1.5 crore last year.
Meanwhile, the Kailash Mansarovar yatra, which was suspended due to Olympics, is also expected to resume by August 19.