AGARTALA, June 10 (TIWN): With the first of its kind Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata direct bus service, flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Shiekh Hasina in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee, controversy erupted with the fare charge from Agartala to Kolkata and vice versa via Dhaka. However Tripura Government had asked the West Bengal government not to exceed Rs. 1500, said State Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik on Tuesday.

Talking to TIWN on Tuesday Bhowmik said, “I have deliberately asked the West Bengal Govt. to bring down the fare charge from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 1500 for the sake of the land-locked Tripura.”

Adding to that Bhowmik also said, “The WB Govt. was found reluctant to bring the fare down, but this would bring a major hurdle for the people of Tripura because it is a land-locked state.”

“The WB Govt. is asking us to charge Rs. 2000 from the Tripura passengers, but we would not let it happen because the state govt. here has to look after the coziness of the passengers.”

Bhowmik said, “The Bangladesh Government had said they would charge Rs. 400 for the travel tax as the bus either from Kolkata or from Agartala needs to use the Bangladeshi corridor.”

However, with all this, the state government here had deliberately asked the WB Govt. to fix the fare charge at Rs. 1500.

Later talking to TIWN on Tuesday Bhowmik said, “Though the fare had not yet been fixed but it would be finalized soon and from our part we asked them to take Rs. 1500 for granted.”

Besides, a section of passengers who are looking forward to travel to Kolkata via Dhaka from Agartala claims, “There is no use of travelling by bus to Kolkata until the fare is fixed less than Rs. 2000.”

Citing a reason for it the passengers they also said, “Because often we get flight tickets with low fare, if we book it 6 to 7 days back, therefore if we can get the facility here, then there is no use of availing bus with Rs. 2000 and more.”

The passengers here at Agartala also felt that if everything falls on right track then the direct bus service from Agartala to Kolkata via Bangladesh capital Dhaka would further strengthen the Indo-Bangla bi-lateral relation. Govt. of India on its ambitious agreement would for the first time use the Bangladeshi territory to ply a direct bus between Kolkata and Agartala.