Siliguri: After the rail route, now West Bengal will be connected to Bangladesh via road. The North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) has declared its bus services from Siliguri's Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus to Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. The Indo-Bangladesh bus service is expected to boost the tourism industry as well as will provide ease of business.
NBSTC chairman Partha Pratim Roy informed that West Bengal has already sent a request for permission for the inter-country bus service to the Bangladesh government through the centre. The work will be accelerated as soon as the permit comes, he said.
Earlier, NBSTC had launched the Indo-Nepal bus service, which received a huge response. The demand was so high that the tourism sector raised the demand to increase the number of buses. The bus service runs from Siliguri Tenzing Norgay bus terminus to Kathmandu via Panitanki via Kokrajhar.
According to NBSTC sources, the Indo-Bangladesh bus will follow the model of the Indo-Nepal bus service. It will be operated through the Phulbari border adjacent to Siliguri. Permits will be issued by NBSTC. However, bus services will be provided to other agencies on a contract basis.
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"After Nepal, this time we have taken the initiative to start the Dhaka-Siliguri bus service through Phulbari. We got a good response on the Siliguri-Kathmandu bus service with a private company. Encouraged by that, now Phulbari will also be managed by an external agency. If everything goes well, we hope to start this service by March," Roy said.
Samrat Sanyal, the secretary of Himalayan Hospitality and Travel Development Network said, "Great initiative. Many tourists from Bangladesh come to India, especially through the Phulbari border. Apart from tourism, many people come to India for higher education and medical treatment. Though there is an India-Bangladesh train service, it is not enough."
State Government has already sanctioned Rs 6 crore for the project. Infrastructure construction to facilitate the running of CNG buses from Cooch Behar to Kolkata is underway. For this, gas filling centres have been identified at seven places on that route. Apart from this, bus services of NBSTC on Bihar, Jharkhand and Muzaffarpur routes will also be resumed shortly.
