Transport Minister Pranajit Singha Roy flagged-off the Agartala- Kolkata via Dhaka bus service at Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP) resumed on Friday.
A total of 28 passengers -22 Indian citizens and six Bangladesh nationals -were traveling on the first day of the bus service which had been suspended due to Covid pandemic.
The Maitri Bus will run six days a week except Friday. The fare from Agartala to Kolkata is Rs. 2200 per person while it will cost Rs. 900 up to Dhaka. The Bus will take 4 hours to reach Dhaka and then 15 hours to Kolkata (total 19 hours).
Addressing the flagging-off ceremony, the Transport minister said, the people of Tripura and Bangladesh share a strong bond and the bus service would strengthen it further.
“The bus service will strengthen ties between India and Bangladesh as well as boost trade and tourism,” Singha Roy said.
He said, the bus service was likely to resume on April 28 last but it could not be possible for some reasons.
According to the Transport minister, the direct flight service connecting Maharaja Bir Bikram airport, Agartala with Dhaka and Chittagong of Bangladesh would commence very soon.
Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioner, Agartala- Arif Mohammad, first secretary Md Rezaul Haque Chowdhury and Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation Dipak Majumder among others were present in the programme.
In Dhaka also wWith enthusiasm running high bus services between Bangladesh and India have resumed after over two years of suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The resumption of bus services between India and Bangladesh via ICP Agartala-Akhaura and ICP Haridaspur-Benapole was a major step forward in enhancing affordable, people-centric connectivity, the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh tweeted.
Tazul Islam, chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), confirmed this to The Tripura Times. Except the Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati-Dhaka route, services on four other routes will resume from tomorrow and the first bus will start from Motijheel at 7:00am, he added.
The development came after the rail service between the two countries resumed on May 29.
Both bus and train services were suspended in March 2020, when the coronavirus hit Bangladesh.
Before suspension of services, buses were operated on five cross-border routes, Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka, Dhaka-Agartala-Dhaka, Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati-Dhaka, Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata-Agartala, and Dhaka-Khulna-Kolkata-Dhaka.
Discussion over resumption of bus service came to the fore after both the countries decided to resume train service.
Suvenker Ghosh Rakesh, managing director of Shyamoli NR Travels, said they are all set to resume services from June 10.
The discussion over the operation of fifth route is also going on, said a BRTC official.
