India, Bangladesh launch two bus services to boost connectivity

Summery
In a major boost to connectivity between India and Bangladesh, two bus services were flagged
off on Saturday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina
and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Dhaka.
The bus services, Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati, will link West
Bengal to three North Eastern states of India via Bangaldeshi capital Dhaka.
During the flag off ceremony Modi handed over a symbolic ticket of the Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata
service to Hasina and she handed over a symbolic ticket of Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati service to
her Indian counterpart.
These bus services are aimed at improving people-to-people contact between the neighbouring
countries by enhancing connectivity.
The Kolkata-Agartala-Dhaka route, one of which would be run by the West Bengal government
and the other by the Tripura government. The solo bus in the Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati route
would be run by the Bangladeshi government.
People of the North Eastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam, which share extensive
boundaries with Indias eastern neighbour, would benefit from the two services.
The Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala service would reduce by 560 kms the distance between West
Bengal and the landlocked state of Tripura, which is surrounded by Bangladesh from three sides.
At present, separate bus services between Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Agartala are operational.