Bus services between Kolkata and Dhaka via Khulna flagged off

The Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service was flagged off on Saturday from the state secretariat Nabanna. The launch comes at a time when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina Wazed is on her visit to New Delhi.

At the same time, a Radhikapur-Birol railway link and the trial run of Kolkata-Khulna rail route were also announced. The Kolkata-Khulna rail route via Petrapole and Benapole rail route, which will cover 120 km, is expected to start operations from July this year.

The Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service, which will cover 409 km, was flagged off on Saturday. State Education minister Partha Chatterjee, Panchayat and Rural Development minister Subrata Mukherjee, Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim, Principal Secretary of state Transport department Alapan Bandyopadhyay and representatives from Bangladesh were present in the occasion.

It was known that the buses would start journey from Karunamoyee at 7 am and would take around 12 hours to reach Kamalpur in Dhaka. The same bus will start from Dhaka on the alternate days at 7.30 am.

This is the third such service that has been introduced between the state and Bangladesh. The two other services are already operating on the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala route and the Kolkata-Dhaka route.

The Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka service would be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday from Kolkata and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Dhaka.

The bus service will be run by the West Bengal Transport Department and by the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC). However, the fare for the route is yet to be decided.

It may be mentioned that railway services are also available between Kolkata and Dhaka. The famous Maitree Express runs between Kolkata and Dhaka four

times a week. But from July 2017, a new train service between Kolkata-Khulna via Petrapole and Benapole will be available. As a ceremonial run, a train came from

Benapole to Kolkata Station on Saturday.

It may be recalled that the trial run of the bus service was conducted on October 30-31, last year. On the success of the trial run, the bus service has commenced from either ends on Saturday.