India-Bangladesh international bus service resumes operation from Tripura after two years
The bus service had a high demand among people when it was functional prior to 2020 and was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata ‘Maitri’ (friendship) bus resumed its service after a gap of two years from the Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP) in the outskirts of Agartala city.
Agartala, which is one of the closest Indian state capitals to the international border, shares a connection with the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Tripura was effectively a hub of Muktijoddha training with several training and refugee camps set up in different parts of the state in those days.
Speaking to the media at the inaugural session, Tripura Transport minister PranajitSingha Roy said the re-introduction of the Indo-Bangla international bus service would solidify the cultural and historical bonds between Bangladesh and Tripura.
He also said the international bus service would be of particular importance to Tripura since its conventional connectivity route has now broken down due to a landslide at Haflong. “Fifteen trains are operational in Tripura. But due to natural calamities, the railway connectivity has been disrupted for a month now. It will take some time to repair it. A lot of people have to visit other states for different reasons, including treatment purposes. The resumption of the Maitri bus service will be of help to the common people,” the minister said.
The Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata bus route will reach passengers to Dhaka in four years and take 19 hours to reach Kolkata against the 35 hours in the train route that plies through Guwahati and the ‘chicken neck’ of Siliguri in West Bengal.
The bus service had a high demand among people when it was functional prior to 2020 and was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Chairperson of the Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) and Agartala Mayor DipakMajumder said the international bus service would help develop tourism and bilateral relations.
Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioner Arif Muhammad and other officials of the neighbouring country too joined the event. TRTC Managing Director Rajesh Kumar Das said the Indo-Bangla bus service was resumed after the Home and External Affairs ministries of both the countries worked out the modalities and gave clearance for the connectivity service.
The Maitri bus service operates a 40-seater bus and 28 passengers, including 22 Indian nationals and six Bangladeshi nationals, availed the service of the first bus on the route after the two-year-gap. The bus will travel six days a week except for Fridays.
As per TRTC officials, the journey will cost Rs 2,200 to travel from Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka and Rs 900 till Dhaka.
As per reports from the local Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioner’s office, around 500-600 applications are submitted daily for visas to travel to the neighbouring country.
Most of these visa requests are for tourism or for meeting relatives in Bangladesh as many citizens of Tripura are those who migrated during the Partition or before the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
Tripura shares an 856-km-long international border with Bangladesh, parts of which are still unfenced due to local disputes.
