Tripura moots for introducing Agartala-Kolkata bus service via

Tripura government has demanded that the Ministry of External Affairs take up with Bangladesh for introducing a direct bus service between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka.
"We demand the External Affairs Ministry take up the matter with Bangladesh to avoid inconvenience of passengers. The proposal for direct bus service was nearly finalised in 2010 with the Central government and government of Bangladesh initially agreeing for protocol of the service including plans for stoppage, frequency and time-table," Transport minister Manik Dey told reporters here today.
He added that the talks were abruptly stalled at Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) level later.

Asked about his take on the ongoing crisis of passenger air tickets mostly from the private airlines, Dey said that the situation was the result of privatisation of nationalised assets that the previous UPA government started years back.
While two SpiceJet carriers resumed services at Agartala airport after a lull of three days last week, IndiGo introduced an additional aircraft for Agartala Airport starting December 5.
"We demanded more Indian airlines carriers, re-introduction of withdrawn flights like the Jet Airways and the regularised services of Spice jet airlines which left several passengers stranded across the country barely a week back. The central government is yet to respond," he said.

The minister said introduction of Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata direct bus service would be highly beneficial in easing pressure from the air traffic as far as possible.
At present the Agartala-Dhaka bus service ply five days in a week.