Dhaka, July 16: Encouraged by the success of the Kolkata-Dhaka bus service, India and Bangladesh have decided to start a similar service between Agartala and Dhaka next month. External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said today that an agreement in this regard was reached during the Joint Economic Commission meeting here and the service is expected to be launched in the first week of august.
"I hope that the Bangladesh minister for transport can travel to Agartala to flag-off this bus service," Sinha told reporters here after the two-day JEC meeting. The Agartala-Dhaka bus comes after nearly four years of successful run of Kolkata-Dhaka bus service.
The two sides also discussed the possibility of starting rail links between the two countries on both sides of Bangladesh to facilitate easy movement of both passengers and goods.
Passenger movement from Bangladesh to India is one of the highest in the world considering the fact that the Indian high commission at Dhaka and the two consulates at Chittagong and Rajshahi issue nearly 3000 visas to Bangladeshi nationals every day. Bureau Report