AGARTALA, June 2 (TIWN): State Govt is all set for historic occasion on Tuesday at Agartala Akhaura Check Post to receive Kolkata bus arriving here on June 2 as part of the trial run before the Agartala-Kolkata via Dhaka bus service which will be officially flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina through video conference on June 6 from Bangladesh.

Talking to the reporters here at the civil secretariat State Transport Minister Manik Dey said, “18 members’ delegation team of Bangladesh and West Bengal govt. would arrive here on June 2 with the Kolkata bus.”

The 18 members delegation comprises of Abdur Rouf Khan, Joint Secretary, Road Transport and Highway Division (Bangladesh), Munshi Iqbal Hossain, Director (Finance and Accounts), Joint Secretary, BRTC, A K M Mofizul Haque, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, along with other 7 members team from Bangladesh Ministry and another 10 members’ team from Kolkata Govt. officials comprising of Akhil Roy IG IB, Ajoy Kumar Ghosh, Deputy Secretary, Shankar Bhattacharjee, Technical Officer and others would arrive here in Agartala on June 2.

Dey said, “DM West along with State Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik, AMC Mayor Dr. Prafullajit Sinha and other officials would remain present here at Akhaura Check Post on June 2 to receive the Kolkata bus.”

However later Dey said that the stat5e govt. here has readied all necessary requirements for the delegation team coming on June 2 with the bus. The bus would be kept at TRTC complex, said Dey.

He also said that on June after the delegation visits the state a meeting would be held later at 2:00 PM at State Guest House here. Asked about the main objective of the meeting Dey told to reporters that the meeting would take up certain issues linked to all necessary requirements for the bus service in Kolkata-Agartala via Dhaka route.

Minister said, “Govt. of India had also green signalled Tripura Govt. to start the trial run from Agartala to Kolkata. Following which Tripura govt. would ply a TRTC bus on June 3.”

An air-conditioned 45-seater Volvo bus, carrying a 10-member delegation of the West Bengal government, departed from Kolkata's Salt Lake international bus terminus at around 9. a.m. on Monday. 

The bus, reached Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka by night, will start its journey for Agartala on Tuesday morning.

Tripura's Transport Minister Manik Dey said the state government has been demanding direct bus services between Tripura and other northeastern states and Kolkata through Bangladesh for a long time for easy movement of people from the region.

Transportation via Bangladesh is much easier as road connectivity is a big factor for the mountainous northeastern states which share boundaries with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China.