Guwahati-Dhaka bus service to resume after road condition improves

During the trial run of the Guwahati-Dhaka bus service, various departments cited poor road condition to be the single most major problem and plans have been drawn to address the same on a priority.

As soon as the road condition is improved, regular bus services will start for passengers from Guwahati to Dhaka via Shillong.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Bangladesh High Commission in India will shortly open a visa centre in Guwahati so that people do not have to bother much about visas.

At the moment, people seeking visa for Bangladesh have to send their applications to either Kolkata or Agartala which is time consuming.

Assam PWD officials say during the December 10 trial run of Guwahati-Dhaka bus, a few hurdles were identified by the officers who had gone to Dhaka.

Poor road condition was identified as the main problem.

A point to note is that the bus on the trial run from Guwahati to Dhaka, instead of travelling all the way to Dhaka non-stop, halted for a night at Sylhet.

The officials said that a stretch of 30 to 40 kilometers was in very bad condition.

Better security measures is also required, they said, because some rebel groups are active in Assam and Meghalaya.

The officials said that before regularizing the bus service, more immigration posts on the border was also essential to handle greater number of visitors and tourists.

While protesting against this bus service to Dhaka inside Assam Assembly, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, former Chief Minister of Assam and AGP leader said that the visa policy fixed by the central government for Bangladeshi citizens will greatly harm Assam’s interest.

After taking visa from Bangladesh, people will come here but will not return back.

The proposal of the central government facilitating visa-less travel to Bangladeshi nationals aged under 18 and above 65 has been also opposed by the Assam government.

According to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, his government gave a negative opinion on the recent visa issue proposed by the Narendra Modi government.

He said that the state is already facing problems with Bangladeshi nationals coming here on regular visas and many going missing after that.