Transport between India and Bangladesh
Encyclopedia
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
bears much historical and political significance for both countries, which possessed no ground transport links for 43 years, starting with the partition of Bengal
Partition of Bengal (1947)
The Partition of Bengal in 1947, part of the Partition of India, was a religiously based partition that divided the British Indian province of Bengal between India and Pakistan...
and India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
in 1947. The Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
–Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
Bus (1999) and the Dhaka–Agartala Bus (2001) are the primary road links between the two countries; a direct Kolkata-Agartala running through Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
is being developed by both countries. The Maitreyi Express (Friendship Express) was launched to revive a railway link between Kolkata and Dhaka that had been shut for 43 years.
Background
The partition of Bengal and IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
on August 15, 1947 led to the establishment of the Indian state of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
; East Bengal
East Bengal
East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....
became a province of the state of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The hostile bilateral relations between the two nations made transport links very limited, despite the cultural and commercial links between West and East Bengal. At the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...
, the only railway link between Dhaka and Kolkata was shut down, and not resumed until 2008 with the launch of the Maitreyi Express.
After the establishment of Bangladesh
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
, bilateral relations improved considerably, but the two governments moved slowly on implementing a 1980 agreement on improving transport links. In the 1990s, the Indian and Bangladeshi governments collaborated to open bus services between Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal and one of the largest cities in India, and Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. In 2001, another bus service was launched to connect Dhaka with Agartala, the capital of the Indian state of Tripura
Tripura
Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are...
that borders Bangladesh in the east.
Kolkata-Agartala link
Since the 1980s, the Indian and Bangladeshi governments have sought to negotiate an agreement permitting commercial vehicles to pass through Bangladeshi highways in order to reach the northeastern statesSeven Sister States
The Seven Sister States also called "Paradise Unexplored" is a name given to the contiguous states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura in northeastern India. These states cover an area of about 250,000 sq. km. or about 7 percent of India's total area. They...
of India from the west; a concept described in India as the "Bangla Corridor." Such an arrangement is being promoted for its benefit to bilateral commerce, the transport cost reduction for Indian businesses and additional revenue for Bangladesh. In 2006, both governments began working on a proposal to provide a bus service directly connecting Kolkata with Agartala, the capital of the Indian state of Tripura
Tripura
Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are...
, which borders eastern Bangladesh. As of 2007, travelling distance through Indian territory is an estimated 1700 km (1,056 mi), but a direct road link via Dhaka would shorten the travelling distance to an estimated 400 km (249 mi), considerably reducing the costs of transport for Indian businesses, which have to transport goods and services through the narrow "Chicken's Neck" territory that is bordered by northern Bangladesh and southern Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. However, such an arrangement has been politically sensitive in Bangladesh.
Kolkata-Dhaka Bus
The Govt. sponsored bus service between Kolkata and Dhaka was launched on June 19, 1999; the inaugural bus was received in Dhaka by Sheikh HasinaSheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina is a Bangladeshi politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Awami League, a major political party, since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh and widow of a reputed nuclear...
, Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Prime Minister of Bangladesh
The Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is the Head of the Government of Bangladesh. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Jatiya Sangsad Parliament, to their political party and ultimately to the electorate...
. The inauguration took place just months following the launch of the Delhi-Lahore Bus
Delhi-Lahore Bus
The Delhi–Lahore Bus, officially known as Sada-e-Sarhad , is a passenger bus service connecting the Indian capital of Delhi with the city of Lahore, Pakistan via the border transit post at Wagah. The bus was of symbolic importance to the efforts of the governments of both nations to foster peaceful...
between Pakistan and India. Although receiving lesser media attention and fanfare, the bus service has expanded its services to meet higher demand. While boosting commerce between the two nations, the bus also enables people with families that were divided on either nation with the partition of India, to meet relatives and visit the land of their birth and heritage. The Kolkata-Dhaka bus service has remained uninterrupted, unlike the Delhi-Lahore bus that was suspended during the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff
2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff
The 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff was a military standoff between India and Pakistan that resulted in the massing of troops on either side of the International Border and along the Line of Control in the region of Kashmir...
.
The Kolkata-Dhaka Govt. bus is operated jointly by the West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation
West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation
West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation is a West Bengal state government undertaken transport corporation. Besides plying buses throughout West Bengal it controls some waterways transport, e.g. ferries. WBSTC owns many depots throughout the state to station their buses...
and the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC is the State Road Transport arm of the Bangladesh Govt.). Buses starting from Dhaka leave on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:00AM and 7:30AM and buses starting from Kolkata are operated on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5:30AM, 8:30AM, and 12:30PM, with no service from either side on Sunday. The journey is 12.5 hours long, 80 km (50 mi) from India side and 300 km (186 mi) into Bangladesh.
From India to Bangladesh there are services also provided by private comfortable a/c buslines (using Volvo and other luxurious Intercity bus transports) via the Haridaspur
Haridaspur, Bangladesh
-External links:*...
/ Benapole
Benapole
Benapole is a township in Sharsha Upazila in the Jessore District of Bangladesh. The Petrapole Customs station of India is situated across the border and since 1971 , a large number of people have travelled between Bangladesh and India through Benapole Customs station...
border post. Private Bangladeshi bus companies Shohagh, Green Line, Shyamoli and others operate daily bus services from Benapole to Dhaka. The normal one-way fare is Bangladeshi Taka 600-800, roughly $8–12.
Dhaka-Agartala Bus
After years of negotiations, the Dhaka-Agartala bus was agreed upon on July 11, 2001 to connect Bangladesh with its eastern neighbour, the Indian state of Tripura, which has a substantial BengaliBengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
population and indigenous peoples who have close commercial and cultural links with the people of eastern Bangladesh.
Aerial links
Air IndiaAir India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...
and Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Biman Bangladesh Airlines , partly transcribed from English into Bengali and the other way around) is the flag carrier airline of Bangladesh. Its main hub is at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, and also operates flights from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong, earning revenue...
, the national carriers of India and Bangladesh respectively run flights connecting Dhaka with the Indian cities of New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, Kolkata. Private carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle , Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red....
, GMG Airlines
GMG Airlines
GMG Airlines is a largest private airline of Bangladesh with its head office in the AAA Tower in Nikunjo-2 Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is Bangladesh's largest and oldest private airline operating domestic, regional, and international services, upholding the image of Bangladesh to the world...
and others also operate flights.