Kolkata: The Bengal government on Tuesday signed a reciprocal agreement for plying of buses between Bengal and Sikkim. State Transport minister Firhad Hakim and his counterpart in Sikkim, Sanjit Kharel signed the same at a resort in Siliguri in presence of senior officials of Transport department and district administration.
The earlier agreement had expired and the transport operators had been facing problems. "The movement of buses will be regularised due to the agreement and North Bengal State Transport Corporation is also planning to introduce more bus services to Sikkim," the minister said.
He added that the Bengal government is always supportive to the neighboring states and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee always emphasizes on how services can be developed with small states like Sikkim. "We are supportive to all the seven sister states as Bengal is the corridor", Hakim added.
He expressed optimism that the best of relationship between Sikkim and Bengal will be developed through initiatives like this.
Hakim was supposed to travel to Sikkim for the agreement but could not do so because of inclement weather conditions.