Kolkata-Agartala bus service
Kolkata/Agartala: The trial run to start a Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus service began on Monday.
The proposed Agartala-Kolkata bus service via Dhaka is expected to facilitate visiting mainland Indian states for people of the mountainous northeastern region, reducing the distance by over 1,000 km.
Agartala via Guwahati is 1,650 km from Kolkata by road. But the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh is only around 500 km, which is very less as compared to the earlier route An air-conditioned 45-seater Volvo bus, carrying a 10-member delegation of the West Bengal government, departed from Kolkata’s Salt Lake international bus terminus at around 9. a.m. on Monday.
The bus, likely to reach Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka by night, will start its return journey for Agartala on Tuesday morning.
“After the introduction of the bus service, Kolkata and Agartala would come closer to each other,” West Bengal transport department principal secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay told reporters in Kolkata before boarding the Dhaka bound bus. “The people of some Northeastern states would come nearer and would not have to travel the whole of the hilly surface road in the northeast to reach each other’s place,” he added.
“This is the first step to open economic windows in the south and south-east Asian region,” said Bandyopadhyay, who is heading the West Bengal delegation. As part of a similar road trial that was run, a Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) bus is expected to leave for Kolkata via Dhaka on Wednesday.
Tripura government officials earlier said a direct bus service between Agartala and Kolkata through Bangladesh is expected to be flagged-off during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh between June 6-7.
The cross-border bus service was approved at a recent meeting between Bangladesh Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader and his Indian counterpart Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. (IANS)