The trail run of a much-awaited new bus service between West Bengal’s Kolkata and Agartala of Tripura via Dhaka has been started from Monday.
The Volvo bus having seating capacity for 45 departed from Kolkata’s Saltlake International Bus Terminal around 9am.
Carrying a 10-member delegation of the Indian government, the bus is likely to reach Dhaka in the night and will start for Agartala on Tuesday morning.
Earlier, Kolkata-Dhaka bus service was introduced in 1999 and the other between Agartala and Dhaka in 2003.
India’s Kolkata and Tripura dwellers have been demanding for long to introduce a service that allows them to travel between the two provinces through Bangladesh without changing transport.
If a vehicle runs through the Indian land, it would take them almost three days to travel from Kolkata to Tripura’s Agartala. Because, the total straight line distance between Kolkata and Agartala is 1,650km and most of the road is over the hill.
Through using Bangladesh’s route, the journey will take less than 24 hours. The distance via Dhaka is only 513km.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
