AGARTALA, June 5 (TIWN): Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata trial run bus would arrive here at Tripura’s capital town on June 5 by 10:00 AM, carrying all the delegate members’ team except State Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik as he had already arrived here at Agartala by flight, said official on Thursday.

Besides, Tripura govt. would send 19-seater mini air-conditioned bus to Dhaka carrying 16 members’ delegation team to attend the flag off programme. The bus would start on June 5 from Agartala at around 1:00 PM. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would flag off Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and vice-versa on June 6, the Agartala bus would ply to Kolkata whereas the Kolkata bus would start to reach Agartala.

The 16 members’ delegation team comprises of State Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik, Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) Managing Director R M Malakar, seven media persons from different local media organisations along with two drivers and technicians.

Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik talking in regard of his experience plying to Kolkata from Agartala via Dhaka said, “I had a very nice experience plying to Kolkata as the Bangladesh government has made all necessary arrangements for the bus passengers.”

Adding to that Bhowmik said that at every district the Agartala bus was escorted by police and army at Bangladesh, with the Bangladesh govt.’s helping hands to escort passengers to reach Kolkata safely and securely.

He also said that there was no technical fault with the bus and they had made a total of 18 hours journey. At present the bus is at Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka and after a night halt the bus would start for Agartala and is expected to arrive here by 10:00 AM on June 5.

On the very day, another 19-seater air-conditioned bus to be borrowed from the state transport department would start for Dhaka from Agartala to attend the flag off ceremony on June 6.

Besides, the Tripura govt. had already send the lists of passengers and the bus number to Bangladesh embassy.

According to the officials, Tripura Govt. on June 1^st asked the Govt. of India through a letter whether Tripura would be included in the flag off ceremony; following which the Govt. of India in reply to the letter on June 3 asked the state govt. to make all necessary arrangements of sending a bus from Agartala on June 6.

However, on June 6 PM Modi-Hasina would flag off two bus services including Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and another Dhaka-Guwahati direct bus services. Security has been tightened up in wake of PM Modi’s visit to Bangladesh on June 6. WB’s CM Mamata Banarjee would also remain present during the programme. The flag off would kick a start from 4:00 PM at Bangladesh PMO office.