Agartala: The bus service between Agartala and Dhaka has been suspended after India’s ‘Maitree’ passenger bus between the two cities was burnt by an angry mob in Bangladesh on Friday, officials said here yesterday.
“The Agartala-Dhaka bus service has been suspended temporarily following Friday’s incident. The service is expected to resume after an inquiry into the incident and other necessary formalities,” a Tripura transport department official said.
“A team of Tripura government officials would visit Bangladesh to probe the incident and to talk to police and officials of that country,” he added.
The Dhaka bound ‘Maitree’ passenger bus, run by Tripura Road Transport Corporation, was torched by an angry mob at Narsindi in central Bangladesh on Friday. According to Bangladesh media reports, the incident was a fallout of a clash between two local political groups.
Narsindi is 50km northeast of Dhaka and 45km west of Agartala.
All the 22 passengers and one of the three crew members were safe. The driver and conductor of the bus sustained minor injuries.
Of the passengers, 12 were Indians and the rest were Bangladeshi nationals.
Tripura Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar Panda spoke to the acting Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, Sandeep Chakravorty, and requested him to provide assistance to the passengers.
“The Indian high commissioner, after gathering necessary information from the Bangladesh government cabinet secretary, told Panda that all the Indian passengers and crew members of the bus were safe,” the Tripura transport department official added.
“The incident is an isolated and a stray occurrence, not targeted at the Indian bus or passengers,” the Tripura government said in a statement.
IANS
