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Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-km border. Of this, 2,217 km is in West Bengal. Another 262 km run along Assam, 856 km in Tripura, 180 km in Mizoram and 443 km is in Meghalaya.
Cattle are brought from places like Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The price moves up as it heads towards the bordering areas of West Bengal and the North East.
Typically two routes are taken by smugglers. In the first route, Kishanganj in Bihar acts as the nodal point for the smugglers.
Cattle are brought in from north Indian states using the national highways. With vigil on the highways on the rise, the state roads that run parallel to highways have come in vogue. Once in Kishanganj, there are a set of handlers (called cattle runners locally) who help transport the cattle to Assam, Tripura or Meghalaya.
In Assam, most of the cattle is sent to the Dhubri district. Mankachar region on the Assam-Meghalaya- Bangladesh tri-junction, and a part of the Dhubri district, is considered to be the hub of cattle trade, sources say.
The other transit point is via Tripura and it includes the West Tripura and South Tripura districts. In case of Meghalaya, the route is through the South West Garo Hills and East Khashi Hills.
The cattle are sent to districts of Bengal that include Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Malda in the north. Or, is some cases they move across the Gangetic Bengal districts like Murshidabad and Nadia. This is from where the cattle cross the border into Bangladesh.
The other course Then there is the longer route through south Bengal. Normally, cattle from Madhya Pradesh and parts of Uttar Pradesh are transported through this one.
In this case, parts of Jharkhand and Odisha form the conduit. Districts like Burdwan, Birbhum, West Midnapore and East Midnapore are used to bring in the animals.
From these border districts, the cattle is transported all the way – travelling a few 100 kms – to areas in North 24 Parganas like like Bongaon, Basirhat and Taki from where the animals enter Bangladesh.
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