AGARTALA, June 4 (TIWN): Direct bus trial run of Agartala-Dhaka- Kolkata and vice versa to end on June 5, after the Agartala bus which started on June 3 for Kolkata returns back to Tripura’s capital town. Prime Minister of India and Bangladesh Modi-Hasina are scheduled to flag off the direct bus service between Kolkata and Agartala via Dhaka on June 6. According to the officials of the state transport department Tripura, govt. has planned to ply the bus twice in a week whereas Kolkata would ply four days a week. Besides, the custom immigration duty hours along Agartala, Akhaura– Benapole from 6:00 AM till 6:00 PM has burdened Tripura govt. to ply its bus twice a week. Tripura would start its bus from Agartala at 4:00 PM twice a week whereas the West Bengal govt. would start their bus from 2:00 PM to reach Agartala on the next morning crossing Bangladesh capital Dhaka. Recently the state govt. here has written a letter to the high officials to extend the duty hours of the Akhaura-Benapole custom immigration up till 10:00 PM. It has been learnt that until the duty hour is extended Tripura would face hurdle to ply its bus because at present the custom immigration centre remains open till 6:00 PM. The bus from Agartala would start on 4:00 PM and is expected to reach Kolkata Salt Lake Karunamoyee terminal on the next day at around 10:00 AM.

Some of the officials of the state transport department here already started for Kolkata by the Agartala bound bus on June 3 and would remain back at Dhaka while returning to Agartala because they would attend the formal inaugural programme at Dhaka on June 6.Besides, after the Agartala bus reaches here on June 5 from Kolkata, Tripura govt. would send another 19-seater air-conditioned mini bus to Dhaka carrying other state delegations of the transport department. Modi-Hasina is scheduled to flag off Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus service and another Dhaka-Guwahati direct bus service on June 6.

However, it is worthy to mention here that till now, no issues have been fixed and finalised regarding the direct bus service between Kolkata and Agartala via Dhaka. These are expected to be finalised soon during a high level meeting at Dhaka. 

Expressing satisfaction over the new bus service, the passengers said that it would go a long way in resolving the problems of the people, travelling from Tripura to West Bengal. The new direct bus service via Dhaka would greatly reduce the time and distance of travel between Agartala and Kolkata.

From Tripura at least 4 “A” category daily local news papers and along with Doordarshan and All India Radio were permitted to cover the formal inauguration programme at Dhaka on June 6. The programme would be held at Dhaka PMO office where West Bengal CM Mamata Banarjee would also remain present.

It is to be mentioned here that Union Ministry has recently asked the state govt. here to send the lists of the passengers who are travelling to Dhaka on June 6 along with their passport numbers and the bus numbers by June 5. Tripura would borrow 19-seater mini air-conditioned bus from State Tourism Department.