Government officials believe that if the proposed bus link becomes a reality, it will transform the frosty India-Bangladesh relations.
KOLKATA: After years of dithering, Dhaka and New Delhi have taken the first step to introduce a direct bus service between Kolkata and Agartala, capital of Tripura, through Bangladeshi territory.
Government officials believe that if the proposed bus link becomes a reality, it will transform the frosty India-Bangladesh relations.
Describing the proposal as a “major step forward,” Devendra Nath Srivastav, Minister Economics and Commercial in the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, told DNA that the two governments will examine the proposal “on a priority basis with all the attention it deserves.”
At present, the distance between Kolkata and Agartala in India’s landlocked northeast is a staggering 1,700 km. But cut through Bangladesh and the distance dramatically shrinks to 400 km.
India has been hankering after what it calls the “Bangla corridor” from its eastern to its remote, troubled northeastern region, but Dhaka kept the transit issue on hold for political and economic reasons.
Srivastav, a 1984 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, attended a closed-door India-Bangladesh bus operators’ meeting in Kolkata on Friday. Besides bus operators from both countries, the meeting was attended by V Singh, a senior official in India’s federal Road Transport Ministry and transport officials of Tripura and West Bengal.
Representing Bangladesh government was Communication Deputy Secretary Mohammad Motijul Haq and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) chairman Taimur Alam Khandakar.
The meeting was convened to improve existing Kolkata-Dhaka and Dhaka-Agartala bus services which were introduced in 1999 and 2003 respectively.
“During the meeting, there was a proposal to start a direct bus service between Kolkata and Agartala through Bangladesh,” says Srivastav. “The proposal figures in the meeting’s minutes. So the idea is now officially on record.”
“It’s a major step forward. The significance of the Kolkata-Agartala link lies in the fact that it will connect two Indian cities via Bangladesh if it sees the light of day,” he adds.
Analysts say that the proposal is a god-send for New Delhi. But Dhaka might not give in because it is still not prepared to concede the “Bangla corridor” New Delhi desperately wants.
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