The bus service between Agartala and Dhaka, inaugurated with fanfare on Friday in a bid to enhance people-to-people contact between India and

Bangladesh, appears to have hit a roadblock with only two passengers booking tickets for Monday, when the commercial run begins.

The ostensible reason for disinterest in availing a seat on the 40-seater Maitree, is the travel tax imposed by the Bangladesh government.

Tripura Road Transport Corporation Traffic Manager B Majumdar said Saturday there was no possibility of sale of more tickets because the Bangladesh visa office here was closed for the weekend.

Travellers said the tax of Taka 500 (about Rs 390) was stiff.

"There train fare from Akhaura railway station to Kamalapur in Dhaka is only about Rs 60. If you include travel fares to and from both stations the journey cost less than Rs 200," a regular traveler B Bhattacharjee said.

The Agartala-Dhaka-Agartala bus fare has been fixed at $10 (about Rs 470) plus the travel tax, which comes to around Rs 860, he pointed out.

However, Bangladesh Communication Minister Nazmul Huda told reporters Friday that a small thing like travel tax would not be a hindrance if trade and commerce between the two countries picked up.