Agartala, February 21 The operator of the India-Bangladesh bus service connecting Agartala with Kolkata via Dhaka, which has been suspended for a year due to political unrest in Bangladesh, began a trial run on Saturday to resume the service, an official said.
No fresh permission is needed to restart the service as the agreement between the governments has not been cancelled, Manoranjan Debnath, the manager of the international bus service operator, said.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha welcomed the initiative to resume the India-Bangladesh bus service.
The Royal-Maitri international bus service has been suspended for the past year due to political unrest in Bangladesh, resulting in visa issues and a sharp decline in the number of passengers. With the situation improving, the operator now seeks to resume the service and initiated a trial run.
Asked whether they have the authorisation to resume the service, Debnath said there is no need to seek permission as the bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh, which was signed in 2001, has not been cancelled.
“We simply halted the bus service because of a severe shortage of passengers due to some unavoidable issues. The number of passengers had fallen to an all-time low. Besides, there was the visa problem. These prompted us to shut down the service. With the situation improving in Bangladesh, we want to resume bus service from next week,” he said.
The Tripura chief minister praised the move.
“The uncertainty is now over with the formation of an elected government in Bangladesh. This is a good sign in bilateral ties. We hope other issues will also be addressed,” Saha told reporters.
The operator brought a bus to the Krishnanagar depot in West Tripura from Dhaka to resume the service, Debnath said.
“Today, the bus left Krishnanagar bus depot (Agartala) for Dhaka as a trial run. This will continue for two or three days. Once the system is stable, we will restart bus service thrice in a week,” he said.
The fare of the approximately 500 km journey from Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka is Rs 2800. A train from Agartala needs to travel 1567 km to reach Kolkata via Guwahati.