India, Bangladesh flags
Representative image.

Officials of districts in Meghalaya that share the border with Bangladesh will meet together with officials from Bangladesh in Shillong on Tuesday.

Sources said officials of the districts from Bangladesh bordering Meghalaya and those of districts in India’s Meghalaya will hold a conference of the Joint Border Coordination Committee (JBCC).

Various issues related to bilateral co-operations would be discussed among the Deputy Commissioners of both Meghalaya and Bangladesh.

The JBCC was constituted during the first ever two-day bilateral conference of Deputy Commissioners/District Magistrates of Meghalaya (India) and Bangladesh.

The conference was held in Shillong on January 12 and 13, 2015.

The JBCC was constituted in line with the BSF-BGB Border Coordination Conference for thrashing out border related problems.

The district officials from both Meghalaya and Bangladesh had agreed that the JBCC can meet at least twice a year or any time when the need arises.

The districts of Bangladesh bordering Meghalaya include Sylhet, Mymensingh, Sunamganj, Sherpur, Kurigram, Jamalpur and Netrokona.

Meghalaya, which shares a long border with Bangladesh, has seven districts bordering Bangladesh.

The Meghalaya districts include East Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills, West Jaiñtia Hills, East Jaiñtia Hills, West Garo Hills, South West Garo Hills and South Garo Hills.

In 2011, two border haats or “border markets” were set up on the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border – Kalaichar (India)-Baliamari (Bangladesh) and Balat (India) and Dalora (Bangladesh).

Each side has a border haat management committee which looks after the border haat within the Deputy Commissioner’s territory.

Balat falls within the jurisdiction of Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills district.

Kalaichar falls under the Deputy Commissioner of South West Garo Hills district.