Bangla officials clueless about trial run date

BENAPOLE BANGLADESH, MARCH 24: Bangladeshi officials manning the border here with India are still in the dark about the date of the dry...

BENAPOLE BANGLADESH, MARCH 24: Bangladeshi officials manning the border here with India are still in the dark about the date of the dry run of the proposed Dhaka-Calcutta bus service, as the West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation WBSTC conducted an informal8217; dry run on Tuesday to Petrapole on the Indian side.

quot;We have no official or unofficial information about the possible date for the dry run from Dhaka,quot; Superintendent of Bangladeshi Customs here S Zakir Hossein told visiting Indian newspersons who travelled on board the bus, Souhardya8217;, on its dry run on Tuesday.

The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, which is to operate the service from Dhaka, had brought a double-decker bus to Sarsha, a few kilometres away from this border town, but it returned to Dhaka from there. quot;We do not know what happened since,quot; Hussein said.

Bangladesh had cancelled Tuesday8217;s dry run from Dhaka saying it could not make necessary arrangements due to Id-uz-Zoha. It was yet to announce a fresh date for the dry run.

According to some people returning from Dhaka, Bangladeshi officials were yet to warm up to the proposed bus service and the media had also remained relatively silent. quot;We find this strange inspite of the enthusiasm of the people of both the countries,quot; said Abdul Khalek, Anwar Islam and Abdus Samad, who were returning to India after visiting friends and relatives in Bangladesh.

While Customs officials on the Indian side said they were prepared to cut down clearance time to about 30 minutes for an entire busload, Hussein remained non-committal. quot;How can one give a time limit when there are so many things to be considered,quot; he wondered.

WBSTC managing director Santanu Goswami said a team from the Bangladesh Route Transport Authority BRTA, along with officials from its Prime Minister8217;s office and Ministry of Transport, would arrive in India in the first week of April to finalise the protocol and work out details of the service.

Story continues below this ad

Stating that WBSTC had proposed to start the service from the Bengali New Year on April 15, Goswami said, quot;Although we are prepared to start the service from that date, we have not yet heard anything from Bangladesh to indicate they were similarly prepared.quot;

About fares, Goswami said Bangladesh had initially proposed a 20 dollar fare for a round trip. 8221;But this will be too cheap, considering the distance and the service provided. We want to keep the fare to at least Rs 700.8221;