AGARTALA, May 22 (TIWN): A direct bus service between Agartala and Kolkata through Bangladesh is expected to be finalised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's forthcoming visit to Dhaka, said State Transport Minister Manik Dey on Thursday. It has been a long term demand of the Tripura govt. to roll out direct bus service from Tripura to Kolkata via Dhaka, the capital city of the neighboring country Bangladesh.

Talking to the reporters here at the civil secretariat on Thursday, Minister Manik Dey said that officially it has been not declared when the service would start, but PM Modi’s visit to Dhaka recently would bring development to it.

Dey hoped, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi would take the initiative at Dhaka by fixing the date to flag off the bus service.”

He said the people of Tripura and other north eastern states are forced to go to Kolkata in West Bengal and other Indian states by flights even though the air fare is very costly but the bus service from now would benefit the passengers of Tripura and other states.

Dey said that some 3 to 4 years back the state govt. has written several letters to the central govt. in regard of rolling out direct bus service from Tripura to Kolkata via Dhaka and several meetings were also held at New Delhi, but later everything has come to a halt.

“Later again after several letters written to central govt. the final decision has been taken to start the service,” adding Dey said that on May 18 The proposed bus transit was preceded by hectic meetings on May 18 in New Delhi, where Union minister of road transport and highway Nitin Gadkari met Bangladeshi transport minister Obeidul Quadar, along with a host of officials of the West Bengal and Tripura governments, ministry of external affairs, Customs and the Border Security Force. 

The people of Tripura and other north eastern states would be greatly benefited after the bus service starts its operation. Dey also said that every passenger would need VISA and passports to travel through the bus.

The Surface Transport department of West Bengal has planned to run 45-seater Volvo buses to Tripura on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The return journeys will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with no services on Sunday, said Dey

The officials have estimated the time going by the long hours that Dhaka bus commuters usually have to wait at the Petrapol-Benapol immigration checkpost on the Indo-Bangla border. But foreign officials are exploring ways to reduce the time for the Kolkata-Agartala trips. 

For the Kolkata-Tripura route, the state has proposed to run the services from Kolkata thrice a week, with the buses passing through two Indo-Bangla checkposts, one at Petrapol-Benapole and the other at Akhaura-Agartala. The fare, which is yet to be finalized, is not likely to be more than Rs 2,000. 

It was a long-standing demand of the people of Tripura to have a direct bus connection with Kolkata. Delhi has not yet given the permission to fix a bus route linking Tripura with Kolkata. "But we can start the services now.