After a two year gap, bus service between India, Bangladesh resumes

Dhaka: Two years after its suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the bus service between Indian and Bangladesh is set to resume on Friday.

The High Commission of India in Bangladesh tweeted, "Resumption of India-Bangladesh Cross-Border Bus Services! Bus services b/w India-Bangladesh via ICP Agartala-Akhaura & ICP Haridaspur-Benapole resumed with the Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka bus being flagged off from Dhaka early morning today-a major step forward in enhancing affordable, people-centric connectivity".

The chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), Tazul Islam spoke to The Daily Star on Thursday and confirmed the resuming of service.

High Commission of India in Bangladesh also tweeted the flagging off of the bus service from Tripura's Agartala. He added that the Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata-Agartala bus service will help improve tourism and ties between the two nations.

The development comes after the resumption of rail service between the two countries on May 29, which was also halted due to the pandemic. Two trains travel between India and Bangladesh, Bandhan Express operates between Kolkata and Khulna, Bangladesh while Maitree Express connects Kolkata with Dhaka, according to the NDTV.

Mr Islam added that the service on four route with the exception of the Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati-Dhaka route is set to resume from Friday. The first bus among this would start from Motijheel at 7:00 am.

Buses used to operate in 5 cross-border routes befor it was suspended: Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka, Dhaka-Agartala-Dhaka, Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati-Dhaka, Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata-Agartala, and Dhaka-Khulna-Kolkata-Dhaka, reported The Daily Star.

A BRTC offical also confirmed the ongoing discussions to operate a new route.