Staff Reporter :
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee on Saturday opened off two bus services between Bangladesh and India, heralding a new era in communication network.
The bus services will be operated on Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati routes.
At an attractive programme attended by senior officials of the two countries on the premises of Prime Minister Office (PMO), the two prime ministers and the chief minister of West Bengal inaugurated the bus services.
As Narendra Modi and Momata Banerjee arrived at PMO by the same car
at 3.40 pm, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warmly received them with bouquet of flowers.
Then they proceeded to the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus and exchanged pleasantries with the passengers. Thereafter they got in the buses of Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Shilling-Guwahati routes and greeted the passengers. The two prime ministers and West Bengal Chief Minister then went to the decorative dais where Sheikh Hasina symbolically handed over the ticket of Dhaka-Shilliong-Guwahati bus to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Mamata also symbolically handed over the tickets of Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata bus and Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Later, the two prime ministers and chief minister waived flags for all the three buses to move on.
The Maitree Express or Dhaka-Kolkata Express is an International passenger train connecting the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and the Indian state of West Bengal’s capital Kolkata. This is the only railway link between the cities of the two nations and has been revived after being closed for 43 years.
Maitree Express means the ‘Friendship Express’, denoting the significance of the train service relations between India and Bangladesh.The inauguration of the train service was held on the occasion of the Bengali New Year (Pôhela Boishakh) April 14, 2008.
In that function attended by dignitaries such as the Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Liquat Ali Chowdhury. The Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee officially flagged-off the inaugural train from Kolkata, bound for Dhaka. Another train departed at the same time carrying passengers from Dhaka to Kolkata. But the 360-seater Calcutta-Dhaka Friendship Express on its inaugural run was carrying barely 65 passengers, including journalists and politicians.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee on Saturday opened off two bus services between Bangladesh and India, heralding a new era in communication network.
The bus services will be operated on Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati routes.
At an attractive programme attended by senior officials of the two countries on the premises of Prime Minister Office (PMO), the two prime ministers and the chief minister of West Bengal inaugurated the bus services.
As Narendra Modi and Momata Banerjee arrived at PMO by the same car
at 3.40 pm, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warmly received them with bouquet of flowers.
Then they proceeded to the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus and exchanged pleasantries with the passengers. Thereafter they got in the buses of Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Shilling-Guwahati routes and greeted the passengers. The two prime ministers and West Bengal Chief Minister then went to the decorative dais where Sheikh Hasina symbolically handed over the ticket of Dhaka-Shilliong-Guwahati bus to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Mamata also symbolically handed over the tickets of Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata bus and Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Later, the two prime ministers and chief minister waived flags for all the three buses to move on.
The Maitree Express or Dhaka-Kolkata Express is an International passenger train connecting the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and the Indian state of West Bengal’s capital Kolkata. This is the only railway link between the cities of the two nations and has been revived after being closed for 43 years.
Maitree Express means the ‘Friendship Express’, denoting the significance of the train service relations between India and Bangladesh.The inauguration of the train service was held on the occasion of the Bengali New Year (Pôhela Boishakh) April 14, 2008.
In that function attended by dignitaries such as the Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Liquat Ali Chowdhury. The Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee officially flagged-off the inaugural train from Kolkata, bound for Dhaka. Another train departed at the same time carrying passengers from Dhaka to Kolkata. But the 360-seater Calcutta-Dhaka Friendship Express on its inaugural run was carrying barely 65 passengers, including journalists and politicians.
