Agartala, Feb 7 (IANS): The month-long political crisis in Bangladesh has hit bus services between the two countries and bilateral trade, officials said here today.
"The Dhaka-Agartala bus service has been completely stopped since last week. The Dhaka-Kolkata bus services have also become irregular due to the political turmoil in Bangladesh," a Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) official said.
He said: "We do not know when the bus services would normalise. Due to the political violence in Bangladesh, the operators are reluctant to run the bus services between the two countries."
The Tripura government-owned TRTC and the Bangladesh government-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) have been operating the Agartala-Dhaka bus service. The TRTC had stopped its bus service for the past one month, while the BRTC stopped the service last week.
The Agartala-Dhaka bus service started in September 2003, while the Kolkata-Dhaka bus service was introduced in July 1999.
"Currently, the Agartala-Dhaka and Dhaka-Agartala bus services are being on run four days a week. The TRTC and BRTC have been considering increasing the periodicity amid pressure of Kolkata-bound passengers," the TRTC official said.
The transportation via Bangladesh is much easier as road connectivity is a big factor for the mountainous northeastern States which share boundaries with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China.
