The trial run of Guwahati-Dhaka bus service via Shillong and Dawki in Meghalaya will be flagged off from the Inter State Bus Terminus here at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
A 32seater airconditioned bus of the Assam State Transport Corporation will carry a joint delegation of high officials of India and Bangladesh on 196km Indian leg of the journey from Guwahati to Dawki on MeghalayaBangladesh border. From Dawki border point, the delegation will be transhipped to a bus service of Bangladesh to take them on 300km journey to Dhaka via Sylhet.
A sevenmember from Bangladesh delegation that will take part in the trial run, arrived here on Tuesday. The Indian delegation will comprise of eight officials from Ministries of Road Transport and Highways, External Affairs, Home and Finance, four officials each from Assam and Meghalaya.
Joint Commissioner, Transport, Government of Assam and one of four officials included in the joint delegation Bipul Pathak said that the trial run would help officials of both the countries to assess the route condition, estimate the actual journey time for a regular bus service from Guwahati to Dhaka, number of stoppages to be required along the route, arrangements for tourists and other travellers at the Dawki border point for checking of travel documents.
“It is a great thing happening. If you start on this route early in the morning around 7 a.m. you can have breakfast in Guwahati, lunch in Sylhet and nice evening tea in Dhaka. I have travelled twice by the AgartalaDhaka bus services. For that I had to travel first from Shillong to Guwahati.
From Guwahati I had to travel to Agartala to get the visa and undertake the journey. Now, if there is a regular bus service from Guwahati to Dhaka via Shillong then it will be a direct journey for me whenever I wish to travel to Dhaka. However, there must be a visa office either in Shillong or in Guwahati without which a bus service from Guwahati to Dhaka via Shillong has no meaning,” senior journalist and writer Sanat K Chakraborty based in Shillong told The Hindu .
India and Bangladesh presently have two regular bus services, one between Kolkata and Dhaka
and the other between Agartala and Dhaka. The decision to undertake the trial run of Guwahati-ShillongDhaka bus service this month was taken at the meeting of the Joint Commission between India and Bangladesh held on September 20. The trial run will conclude at Dhaka on Thursday.
