Agartala, May 13 (TIWN): The suspended Agartala-Dhaka “Maitree” Bus Service will again start its journey most probably from May 15. Earlier, Agartala- Dhaka “Maitree” Bus Service had suspended its service due to the negligence of the Tripura Road transport and Corporation Department. However, Bangladeshi bus ‘Shyamoli’ shuttles on the route according to its schedule.

‘Maitree’ plies from Agartala to Dhaka on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while ‘Shyamoli’ shuttles the other days in a week, except Sundays.

After the opening of the bus service relation, import-export between the two countries will again comeback in their original positions.

 After years of negotiations, the Dhaka-Agartala bus was agreed on July 11, 2001 to connect Bangladesh with Tripura. Bangladesh’s eastern neighbour, the Indian state of Tripura, has a substantial Bengali population and indigenous peoples who have close commercial and cultural links with the people of eastern Bangladesh.

The capital is connected with Bangladesh by regular bus services which is more convenient for foreign nationals to enter Tripura via Bangladesh with an appropriate visa. Those foreign nationals coming to Dhaka or other cities of Bangladesh may come to Agartala via Akhaura border check post. Similarly, foreign nationals coming to Tripura by other routes could enter Bangladesh via this route. The journey time between Dhaka and Agartala is approximately 4 (four) hours by road.

Due to the suspension of Maitree bus service, passengers of Tripura are facing crucial problem as the air ticket fare for Agartala­ Kolkata route has been hiked over Rs 15000. The passengers are getting enraged after facing the acute air ticket crisis, black marketing of travel agencies and foul ticket fares. In the mean time, Spice Jet had also withdrawn one flight from Agartala- Kolkata route.  Tripura being surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides, people have no other quick alternative but to avail this route.  

The State Government of Tripura also demanded that the Ministry of External Affairs take up with Bangladesh for introducing a direct bus service between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka.The proposal for direct bus service was nearly finalized in 2010, with the Central government and government of Bangladesh initially agreeing for protocol of the service including plans for stoppage, frequency and time-table.