Indo-BD bus services skid over visa vexation, hurdles

Munima Sultana | Published: April 30, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Two of the cross-border bus services between Bangladesh and India have been operative even almost a year after their much-orchestrated launch, for hurdles that include visa hassles and alleged inhospitality.
Both sides have taken not of the problems, and the two countries will sit in Shillong of Meghalaya state of India next week to find a way out, officials said.
Sources said Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati and Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus services virtually remained suspended since the inauguration by the two premiers of Bangladesh and India in June last year as passengers are scarce to run the buses on weekly basis.
"In fact, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has kept the bus services on by maintaining one trip a month," said one source.
And there has been no bus run by Indians from Shillong and Guwahati since the launch.
Official sources said the central government of India has invited all concerned of Bangladesh to a meeting in Shillong on May 4 to hold discussion on the issues and find ways out after concern was raised by the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRTB) few months ago. The MoRTB through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Indian government about problems like visa and immigration-related complications, lack of easy customs procedures, infrastructures and 'unnecessary police harassment'.
The bus services on the eastern front got going after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee flagged off buses at a landmark ceremony in June last year after trial run.
At present, three bus services are officially in operation through different borders between Bangladesh and India. Of those, only Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka bus service on the western front, which was launched in July 1999, has been operating regularly.
Sources, however, said this route has been in operation with almost cent percent Bangladesh passengers. The route gets on an average 25 per cent of the passengers from India.
The Dhaka-Agartala bus service, launched in 2004, has been unofficially closed.
They said Indian sides also face problems like lack of passport and visa offices in the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura,
Indian citizens living in Shilong, Guwahati and Agartala and nearby areas have to take the trouble of going to West Bengal to manage necessary travel documents. Â
Their problem has exacerbated after Bangladesh declined to accept Indo-Bangla passports.
However, Shyamoli Paribahan, which runs buses on behalf of state-run BRTC on the both routes, also said passengers from Bangladesh also complained about police harassment on the Indian side. They are also not getting hotel accommodation over there.
These are among the causes of less interest of travelers to avail the bus services.
They also mentioned the complications in using the Indian visa even after getting six- month multi-entry visas because of not allowing them to use it through all land borders.
"There is no such business, tourism or health and education tourism developed on the Indian side to encourage passengers to use Shilong or Agartala borders twice," said one of them.
He said hotels in Shillong have to take police permission to allow any Bangladeshi boarders. Likewise, hardly any hotel in Guwahati does accept Bangladeshi boarders.
A MoRTB official said they were aware of all these problems and would put those on the table for discussion.
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