Dhaka-bound bus from Tripura meets with accident; no casualties

A bus carrying 28 passengers from both India and Bangladesh met with a minor accident on Saturday in Brahmanbaria district while the vehicle was travelling towards Dhaka from Agartala, an official said, adding there were, however, no casualties from the incident.

A Transport Department official here said that the Dhaka-bound bus owned by Shyamoli Paribahan of Bangladesh carrying 28 passengers -- 17 Indian and 11 Bangladeshi nationals -- left Agartala on Saturday morning.

When the bus reached Ashuganj (in Brahmanbaria), 31 km from the Agartala-Akhaura Integrated Check Post, a goods-laden truck tried to overtake it and the bus collided with an auto-rickshaw, leading to a commotion among the local people, the official said.

The driver of the bus and his assistant, after hectic negotiations, paid for damages to the auto-rickshaw driver, and left for Dhaka.

None of the passengers on the bus and the auto rickshaw were injured in the incident.

Of the 17 Indian passengers, including three women and a child, six passengers were supposed to go to Kolkata by another bus from Dhaka.

Meanwhile, Tripura Transport and Tourism Minister Sushanta Chowdhury in a social media post said that local residents of Brahmanbaria threatened the Indian passengers travelling on the bus and raised anti-India slogans, made derogatory remarks and even threatened the passengers onboard.

"The Indian passengers became frightened due to the unpleasant situation," the Tripura Minister said and strongly condemned the incident and called for immediate intervention by the Bangladeshi authorities to ensure the safety of Indian travellers.

After a bilateral agreement, Agartala-Dhaka bus service was introduced in 2003 and a direct bus service from Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala was started in 2015.

The bus service was suspended in March 2020 after the outbreak of Covid-19 and the restrictions imposed on cross-border movement, and it resumed in June 2022.

Following the recent unrest in Bangladesh, the bus service has currently become irregular.