45 Bangladeshi passengers deboard at Petrapole border as Dhaka-Kolkata buses stop plying

Kolkata: A total of 45 Bangladeshi citizens returning from Kolkata on Tuesday had to deboard from a Dhaka-bound bus at Petrapole, the land port on the Indian side, as bus services between the two countries were suspended amid the turmoil in the neighbouring nation.

Bangladesh plunged into uncertainty after extraordinary street protests over job quota forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to quit and flee.

“Amid the disruption and curfews, we had been making every effort to run the service whenever possible for the benefit of people of both countries. We had been expecting the services to normalise from today.

“However, as one of our buses, ‘Souhardya’, reached the border point at Petrapole in Bongaon, we were told the inter-country bus services have been stopped till further notice,” Abani Ghosh, owner of Shyamali Paribahan, which operates bus services from the Indian side in collaboration with the West Bengal Transport Corporation, told PTI.

The AC Volvo bus ‘Souhardya’, popular among tourists of both countries, was filled to capacity with 45 passengers on board on Tuesday.

"We operate two Volvo buses from here, while similar buses are also run by the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) in collaboration with a private operator from their end... The Dhaka-Kolkata bus service from Bangladesh is also not operational from today as per our knowledge,” he said.

All the passengers of ‘Souhardya’ are Bangladeshi citizens, who came to Kolkata mostly for medical treatment.

“We are getting anxious queries from Bangladeshis putting up in central Kolkata hotels and pockets of south Kolkata. We want to resume the services as early as possible,” Ghosh said.

When contacted, a Bangladesh Deputy High Commission official said, “We don’t have any update about resumption of services as of now.” Meanwhile, all train services between India and Bangladesh have also been suspended indefinitely, Railway officials said on Monday.

According to the Railway Ministry, the Maitree Express, Bandhan Express and Mitali Express operated their last trips in mid-July this year, and have been cancelled since then due to violent protests in Bangladesh.