Dhaka bus arrives in Guwahati

A bus that started from Dhaka arrived in Guwahati on Saturday amid tight security as part of the India-Bangladesh bus service between the two countries.

The 26-seater BRTC bus arrived at Dawki in the Indian state of Meghalaya at 9 am after it left Dhaka with over 20 Bangladesh government officials at around 4 pm on Friday.

The entourage was received by the Meghalaya Transport Corporation Manager, Anthony Pariat.

The bus service which is slated to be officially launched next month, is aiming at improving people-to-people contact and foster friendships and contacts between residents of the two neighbouring countries.

Bangladesh Road Transport and Bridges Ministry Joint Secretary Md Azharul Islam Khan said they stopped at Sylhet for the night before resuming the journey at 7:30 am on Saturday.  "This journey so far has been very fruitful."

However, the security and custom checks consumed nearly three hours causing an additional delay to the journey that should have been completed within nine hours travel time, Khan added.

He said that the bus service was changed from Dhaka-Shillong to Dhaka-Guwahati at the last moment due to public demand.

The bus service will now operate Dhaka  from Guwahati via Shillong and Dawki.

Meanwhile, an officer of Assam Transport Department, while confirming the arrival of the bus said said they will hold detailed discussions with the officials from Bangladesh to remove all the difficulties and bottlenecks faced during the journey.

Among the other concerns, the narrow old iron bridge at Dawki and the snaky climb up the hills from Dawki onwards where the road is under construction were problems faced by the passengers.

Bangladesh Road Transport minister Obaidul Quader flagged off the bus service at the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) depot.

He expressed the hope that leaders of both the countries will sign the agreement during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's June visit to Dhaka .

However, another official on the bus said that an agreement and a protocol is due to be signed between the two countries before the services were introduced.

Dhaka is connected by direct bus services to Kolkata from 1995 and Agartala from 2002.