Dhaka-Kolkata train service
Sunday, 2 March 2008
FOR the Dhaka-Kolkata passenger train service, it is reported that Dhaka has now accepted the Indian side's demand of creating a "box-type" fence in no-man's land.
With this, the train service is now expected to begin around the end of April. This box will be constructed along the railway's passage through the no-man's land between the two countries to ensure security, stop smuggling or illegal migration.
The governments of the two countries ran trains some time in 2007 on a trial basis. But the train service for the passengers could not be launched in time as India suddenly came up for the barbed wire fencing or barbed friendship of India. Initially it was said the train service would start before Eid-ul-Fitr. The Indian concept of barbed friendship postponed it several times.
The resumption of the train service between the two cities of the two countries is significant. It had come to a halt after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. After the Liberation War, the idea to resume the service did not materialise. The movement of the peoples of these countries continues.
Thousands of people have their relatives on both sides of the Bangladesh-India border. Bangladesh is the single largest source of tourists for India. India is definitely a big gainer out of both trade and tourism with Bangladesh.
About half a million Bangladeshis visit India each year on valid passports and visas. They spend foreign exchange in India to buy things and see places. Many hotels, guest houses sprang up in different Indian cities to cater to the Bangladeshi tourists and make money. But India has a tendency not to recognise the benefits it gets from the growing economy of Bangladesh in several ways.
But somehow South Asia is different from Europe. It is more so because the biggest country of the region, India, remains suspicious and does not want to recognise how it is important both ways to have good neighbourly relations in a win-win situation for the two sides.
Dhaka-Kolkata passenger train service could make the journey safer and cheaper for the people. But there should be smooth security and hassle-free immigration and customs facilities.
Ali Imam
Bailey road
Dhaka
With this, the train service is now expected to begin around the end of April. This box will be constructed along the railway's passage through the no-man's land between the two countries to ensure security, stop smuggling or illegal migration.
The governments of the two countries ran trains some time in 2007 on a trial basis. But the train service for the passengers could not be launched in time as India suddenly came up for the barbed wire fencing or barbed friendship of India. Initially it was said the train service would start before Eid-ul-Fitr. The Indian concept of barbed friendship postponed it several times.
The resumption of the train service between the two cities of the two countries is significant. It had come to a halt after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. After the Liberation War, the idea to resume the service did not materialise. The movement of the peoples of these countries continues.
Thousands of people have their relatives on both sides of the Bangladesh-India border. Bangladesh is the single largest source of tourists for India. India is definitely a big gainer out of both trade and tourism with Bangladesh.
About half a million Bangladeshis visit India each year on valid passports and visas. They spend foreign exchange in India to buy things and see places. Many hotels, guest houses sprang up in different Indian cities to cater to the Bangladeshi tourists and make money. But India has a tendency not to recognise the benefits it gets from the growing economy of Bangladesh in several ways.
But somehow South Asia is different from Europe. It is more so because the biggest country of the region, India, remains suspicious and does not want to recognise how it is important both ways to have good neighbourly relations in a win-win situation for the two sides.
Dhaka-Kolkata passenger train service could make the journey safer and cheaper for the people. But there should be smooth security and hassle-free immigration and customs facilities.
Ali Imam
Bailey road
Dhaka